Friday March 14, 2014 (Matthew 5:20-26) Last night I was playing Bible roulette (opening up the Bible to a random page) while participating in a Bible study. I came across the following passage from Ecclesiastes 3: “There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens. A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant. A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to tear down and a time to build. A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance. A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather them; a time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces. A time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away. A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to be silent, and a time to speak. A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.” I think this is relevant for today’s reading. Jesus tells us “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,” later on adding “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.” We know Jesus was really big on the whole love and forgive your enemy business, but sometimes the “enemy” in our minds can seem like someone distant from us. How often do we think about those we would consider close to us (biological siblings, close friends) who we can tend to have a tense relationship with? It’s a fact of life that some of us will lose friends over the years. There are times to plant and there are times to uproot the plant, a time to mourn and a time to dance. There’s an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens. Trust me, I know. But one thing we have to do when our relationship with our brothers and sisters in Christ is strained is to forgive them. It doesn’t mean we forget about the things they’ve done or said and become best friends again, but it means that we choose to stop harboring those feelings of bitterness to the point where we can’t think of them without becoming angry. When all we do is recall how angry we are at someone and refuse to forgive them, we “kill” them in our souls. Is there someone you could forgive in your heart today? Is there someone you could apologize to? A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to tear down and a time to build.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 16:17:26 +0000
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