“You have heard that it was said to your ancestors,
You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment. But I say to
you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment, and whoever
says to his brother, Raqa, will be answerable to the Sanhedrin, and whoever
says, ‘You fool,’ will be liable to fiery Gehenna.
Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and
there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there
at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and
offer your gift. Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to
court.
Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the
judge, and the judge will hand you over to the guard, and you will be thrown
into prison. Amen, I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid
the last penny.”
+ + + + + +
Reflection:
The story is told about a young man who was working as
a houseboy, he was always being insulted by the family that he worked for. Name
all the insulting words around and chances are that it could have been already
hurled against him. Eventually the young man reached the limit of his patience
so instead of doing something criminal to the family. He just walked away from
them emotionally hurting and wounded.
In the gospel Jesus reminds us to be careful with the
words that we say for it can create a permanent wound in the emotions of our
fellowmen. If the words that we will say are insulting it’s better not to say
it. It’s better to simply be quite and let the anger be cured by time.
Insulting words deeply hurts the receiver and it
carves a permanent emotional wound in his/her being. But why do we say words
that are not fit to be said? Why are we very quick to insult and belittle? This
is primarily brought about by our arrogance, bloated egos and the feeling of
superiority.
What is the cure for this unhealthy behavior? The cure is Jesus, if we would follow Jesus and if we would allow Him to change us. He will cleanse us of our arrogance, egotism and feeling of superiority. – Marino J. Dasmarinas