It is quite usual to hear someone confess the sin of anger. Afterall anger (or wrath) is one of the seven deadly sins. I might ask the person if they think their anger was justified and impacted a righteous cause. For example, someone cuts you off in traffic in a dangerous way, you are instantly upset, perhaps even angry, but you take a deep breath and move on with your day. Was that a sin? It was certainly a temptation to sin, but that temptation came along wrapped in grace. On that day you chose grace and let the anger pass. This leads me to think about grace, temptation, sin and what Jesus is trying to convey in today’s gospel where murder and calling someone a fool end up in the same verse.
Christians usually regard Paul and the Apostle John as theologians of grace. Consider some of the passages from these sacred authors:
“So then, my beloved, obedient as you have always been, not only when I am present but all the more now when I am absent, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. For God is the one who, for his good purpose, works in you both to desire and to work.” (Philippians 2:12–13)
“For through the law I died to the law, that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ;20 yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me.”(Galatians 2:19–20)
And there are more examples, e.g. Romans 8:9-11 and Colossians 1:27, where the Pauline language of indwelling and grace are hallmarks of the Christian life. This indwelling enables believers both to desire and to do God’s will. Consider this Johannine passage:
“Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither; people will gather them and throw them into a fire and they will be burned. (John 15:40-6)
If these were the gospel readings for today, they would well echo the sentiment of the first reading from the Prophet Ezekiel in which character is either “virtuous” or “wicked.” It is clear to Ezekiel which one has been transformed by the Divine Covenant and the Law.
What about the Gospel of Matthew? Passages such as the Sermon on the Mount (today’s gospel) seem filled with stringent laws and calls for readers to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. The language of grace and indwelling is not found in Matthew, but does that mean it is not a gospel of grace? It is good to remember that Matthew is speaking to a Jewish audience for whom the New Covenant language of indwelling is not familiar. But being transformed by a vision of God, that is something that was very much part of 1st century AD Judaism. We see traces of this in the Pauline letters: “All of us, gazing with unveiled face on the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as from the Lord who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18). A contemporary Jewish scholar, Philo of Alexandria taught that seeing God yields virtue and nobility of conduct. In 1 John 3:6, we are told that no one who sins habitually has seen God, who has no sin. The point is that via these selected examples we see a different model of grace expressed, not via indwelling, but a transformation or conversion by vision.
In the Gospel of Matthew, the disciples are with Jesus. They see him live and hear his words. He is depicted as the ideal king and the ideal teacher. He is, moreover, Emmanuel, God with us (1:23). Being with Jesus is to be transformed by that vision that enables the conquest of evil passions and the acquisition of virtue. I am suggesting that in the Sermon on the Mount the sayings of Jesus function as a word picture, windows through which we may see into the unconditioned will of God. Seeing God’s will is seeing God. The vision does more than communicate information. It effects changes in those who see. By enabling a new way of seeing reality, the language changes their perspective, disposition, intention, and motivation. This is what is meant by character formation. The sayings in the Sermon perform this function. They effect change. This is Matthew’s way of understanding God’s the grace of transformation and conversion.
The Sermon contains six examples of Jesus’ interpretation of the Scriptures. They begin with “You have heard” and continue with “But I say.” This formula indicates what is happening. Jesus quotes Scripture, often with a current interpretation either attached or implied, and then gives his own interpretation that embodies God’s unconditioned will, the higher righteousness (5:20). For example, 5:21-26 begins with “You have heard…‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’” That is, if you murder you will face judgment. Jesus continues, “But I say…if you are angry with a brother or sister…if you insult a brother or sister…if you say, ‘You fool,’” you will face judgment. That is, the divine intent in the Law’s prohibition against murder is that there be no broken relationships among God’s people, either that I cause (5:22) or that I fail to restore when I have been at fault (5:23-24, 25-26). Rather than functioning as a law against anger and insults, the teaching aims to shape the disciple’s character in the direction of a total concern for the health and wholeness of relationships among God’s people. This is the word picture through which one sees into the divine will. Like the painted icon, these sayings provide a window into divine reality, making possible the perception of the spiritual world. In this case, it is the divine will behind the particular command in Scripture. To be enabled to see differently, moreover, is to be transformed. Character includes one’s perceptions, dispositions, intentions, and motivations. To see differently is to have our perceptions altered. From that come changes in our dispositions, intentions, and motivations. Matthew offers such images in order to shape character by enabling a new way of seeing God’s will.
That is all well and good, but what about other parts of Scripture and the ways it deals with anger and name-calling? Remaining in Matthew’s gospel, what do we do with the story of Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple (Matthew 21:12-17) which assumes anger on Jesus’ part and 23:17 which has Jesus call the scribes and Pharisees “blind fools.” Since Jesus is regarded as the one who fulfills all righteousness (3:15) we can’t judge Jesus to somehow be “deficient.” But how do we consider these two passages in the light of today’s gospel – and the Sermon on the Mount in general? From other parts of the New Testament we need to consider such texts such as Mark 1:43 and 3:5 where Jesus is angry (in dismissing with a stern warning the man healed of leprosy and in confronting people who would prevent him from healing on the Sabbath). What about Paul’s admonishment, “Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun set on your anger, and do not leave room for the devil” (Ephesians 4:26-27). We are also confronted with Luke 11:40 where Jesus says, “You fools”; Luke 12:20 that has God say, “You fool”; 1 Corinthians 15:36 where Paul calls his opponent “Fool!”; and Galatians 3:1 where the apostle addresses his readers as “O stupid Galatians.”
What do we make of all this? One question to ask is whether the anger is for a righteous cause? The other question to ask is framed by Sirach: “Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight.” (Sirach 27:30). In no place in Scripture is the emotion of anger prohibited in an absolute way. What is prohibited is the holding on to anger and the expression of anger in negative ways. A close reading of Matthew 5:22 shows that the Greek present participle yields the meaning “everyone who is angry in an ongoing way,” that is, who holds onto their anger and expresses it in acts of insult toward a brother or sister. In this case, Matthew 5:22 fits into the larger biblical stream of prohibition against holding on to one’s anger and expressing it in harmful ways towards others.
Something has happened that angers you. Do you hold onto that anger and direct it at the offending person in active or in passive ways? Now you have an insight into Jesus’ teaching and into your own self – a part of which is in need of conversion.
Sermon on the Mount | Carl Block, 1887 | Museum of Natural History at Frederlksborg Castle – Hillerod, Denmark | PD-US