The Sermon on the Mount 6 - Matt 5:23-26

I had a really great entry all typed out and ready to go, then the computer crashed and I haven’t been able to get it back. It was quite insightful for me and I’ll try to recreate it as much as possible, though much of the emotion that drove the entry has passed. I think I wrote the entry last Wednesday and the night before, my basement flooded, even though I’ve only been there for 3 weeks and I found out that I have a $10k deductible for my insurance policy. I was not doing too well that day and the Lord really walked me through my upset through the scriptures and I’m grateful for that.

The Lord is teaching that while murder is wrong, the feelings of anger are wrong, in that they can lead up to murder. He gives a really interesting illustration to demonstrate the seriousness of anger. He says, “Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that they brother hath ought against thee; leave thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.” Doesn’t seem like a big deal to us, but JTC comments “the Master showed that hatred was not to be atoned by a material sacrifice; and that if one came to make an offering at the altar, and remember that he was at enmity with his brother, he should first go to that brother and be reconciled, even though such a course involved the interruption of the ceremonial, which was a particularly grievous incident according to the judgment of the priests. Differences and contentions were to be adjusted without delay.” Anger and hatred are such a big deal that even religious ceremonies do not overtake them in importance. I also think that this is a powerful commentary on the power of ordinances. If you have bad feelings toward someone or something, going to church and doing something, no matter how “important”, does not heal the inside, the act alone does not change hearts. It’s the “confessional” concept, we have deep personal flaws and saying a phrase or performing an act does not absolve or cure us of those weaknesses, only the atonement, a personal, healing relationship with Jesus Christ can do that. I also think that it is worth mentioning that Jesus didn’t say “finish up the sacrifice then go make up with your brother,” he said, “stop everything that you are doing until you’ve reconciled with your brother.” This indicates that God will not accept your offering if you harbor bad feelings in your heart. It is also important to mention that by stopping your sacrifice mid ceremony and getting up and leaving, other people will see that and you’ll have to do that walk of shame out of the temple. Peace within yourself and with other people is more important then appearing to be perfect in front of others. This is really a “clean hands and pure heart” concept.

The Lord continues, “Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.” I don’t know exactly what this means with the judge and prison and all that, I don’t know if it is an old Hebrew law where you can go to prison for arguing with someone, I do see that this is an applicable example of holding a grudge however. I don’t think that the Lord is saying that we should do whatever anyone tells us in order to make them happy, or that we should compromise our standards to keep the peace. We see time and again when the Savior stood for what he believed in even though it angered people. But I think there is a fine line between standing up for what you believe in and the need to be right all the time. There are many instances, I would say probably most, where we don’t need to make a fuss, where we can just agree or not get into it and to keep the peace without compromising our standards or beliefs. I think this might be a lesson in “pick your battles.”

Another way that I see this being applicable is in grudges and forgiveness. I’ve heard that holding a grudge is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die. Nothing happens to them because you are angry, the only person affected is you. When I wrote about this topic last week I went on a tirade about how my default emotion is bitterness. If anything goes wrong, or I become upset it automatically goes right back into being bitter. Over the following few days after I wrote that I saw that bitterness was holding a grudge against God, it was saying that my circumstances weren’t good enough, that my blessings weren’t good enough. I also recognized that always going back to bitterness was a lack of faith. I was telling God that I don’t trust that he will make all well again, it’s saying that I don’t believe that the atonement will help me, and I was really telling God that His plan was stupid and that I don’t believe that everything will come together for my good. The Lord really had to talk me back from the edge on that one, and He did and I am grateful.

As always the Lord worked through the Ensign magazine to help me make attitude corrections here. While driving to work I listened to a February 2017 Ensign article entitled, “Making the Most of What We Have.” The author says, “So many times, we are young adults find ourselves lamenting the hand we have been dealt in life. We wish we had received the marriage cards, the children cards, the good-health cards, or the successful cards in the first round. It can be so easy to compare our cards with those of friends and acquaintances- especially when it seems that they always hold the winning cards and we can’t seem to get out of the negative! And yet, so often we fail to see the good in the cards we are already holding in our hands. And we forget that no matter what our cards are- the experiences and opportunities we are given in life- we can still have a good attitude about them.” Looking back at the last week, I feel like that entry that was lost was a turning point for me, not so much in attitude because I was still pretty upset, but in recognition of what my irritation and bitterness had been doing to my life and what that attitude denoted to the Savior about my faith. I think that I’ve been feelings poorly for a couple of weeks now, but I really feel like I turned around and am doing much better now.