"Murder Kills" - 19m:44s

Scott McFarland
10/08/17 - Sun AM Worship

Scripture Reading:  Exodus 20:13 and Matthew 5:21-22

Thou Shalt Not…Hate Your Brother?

This morning, we look at the 6th commandment, “You shall not murder.”  For years, Jews confined this to the physical act of taking someone’s life.  In the Gospel of Matthew, however, Jesus has some comments on this commandment, and says “You have heard that it was said… “You shall not murder….but I say to you…whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” (Matthew 5:21-22)  There’s a lot that I left out of those verses for space’s sake, but the gist of it is that Jesus equates an attitude of hatred and insulting to the act of murder.  Interesting…

We’ve all been there—someone cuts us off on the road, says something about us behind our back, uses us for their own personal gain…someone does us dirty.  What is our response?  If you’re like me, you start boiling instantly inside and maybe you even say something out loud.  What’s in your heart?  It’s not the being angry that is the problem—it’s the hatred that seems to be so easy to come by when we’ve been wronged.

The problem with hatred is that it’s the heart’s way of murdering.  Jesus equates the two because what someone does physically is usually an extension of what’s already happened in their heart.  If you murder someone, chances are you’ve probably already done so in your heart.  Jesus' call to respond with love and kindness in the face of wrongs against us is a high calling.  But, what else would you expect from the man who had people mock him, spit in his face, and pull his beard out on his way to the cross to save them?

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