Returning to Matthew 5, looking at verses 23-24, Jesus puts a twist into what I would expect him to say. I expect him to say, "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that you have something against your brother, go and be reconciled first." That would follow naturally from his previous statement, "anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment." But that is not what he says. What Jesus says is, "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift" (Matthew 5:23-24). Did Jesus get confused about who was angry with whom? I don't think so. He was making his point from both sides. It doesn't matter if you are angry with your brother, or if your brother is angry with you; it must be dealt with quickly, now, immediately. Make all haste to deal with it. Don't let the sun go down another day. We can't approach the altar when we are angry with someone because our relationship with others reflects our relationship with God. As John says, (1 John 4:20), "If anyone says, 'I love God,' yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen." For reflection: Before the sun goes down today, who can I set free from my teenage years? With whom am I angry? Who is angry with me? Let us pray. Jesus, the body of Christ is hurt, bruised, broken and some of the fault is mine. I have stepped on toes, twisted arms, knocked the knees out from under. I have broken hearts. I have left people handcuffed and tongue-tied. I have berated and belittled. Show me how to do my part to build up the body rather than tear it down.
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Paul picks up on the theme of anger in his letter to the Ephesians. He says, "In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold" (Ephesians 4:26-27). Paul doesn't say that we should not get angry but that we should deal with it right away. And Paul had reason to be angry. How many people tried to kill him? I assume he practiced what he preached and forgave his persecutors the same day. No small feat. The reason that Paul gives for letting go of our anger quickly and being forgiving is not the commandment "Thou shalt not kill" (as Jesus cited) but that we are all members of the same body. The longer we wait, the harder it is to be rid of the anger, and the more damage we do to the body. Damage to one part of the body affects the entire body, including us, and the head of the body which is Christ Jesus. Letting our anger linger and not dealing with it quickly is sin against both God and man. For reflection: What anger and resentment is still lingering from my childhood? Let us pray. Jesus, I am guilty of letting my anger linger and fester, sometimes for years. Help me to get rid of all the old anger, resentment and unforgiveness in my life. Please bring to mind all those I need to forgive and set free. (After praying a prayer like this, pay attention to odd thoughts you have, people or incidents you haven't thought of in years, or dreams that you have about the past. God's speaks to us through these thoughts and dreams.) "You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment." In this way Jesus began to teach about his take on the commands of God (Matthew 5:21-22). Let us pray. Jesus, I have not killed anyone, but I have been angry for a long time with (name). S/he hurt me badly. I'm sorry for holding on to this so long, but without your grace I cannot forgive. Please give me your grace of forgivenes today Let's look at another prophet who didn't exactly make an excuse to God, but who recognized his deficiency before he answered a call from God. Isaiah has a vivid vision in which he sees the throne room of God Almighty with angels worshipping in full voice. The room shook and was filled with smoke. The magnificence of the vision terrorizes Isaiah, who cries out, "Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty" (Isaiah 6:1-5). One of the angels flies to Isaiah and touches a live coal to his lips as an act of atonement for his sin and remission of his guilt. Being cleansed, he is no longer a man of unclean lips. So when God asks, "Whom shall I send?" Isaiah is able to answer, "Send me" (Isaiah 6:6-8). Does Isaiah even know what he is volunteering for? Perhaps not. But by cleansing him God has equipped him to speak to a nation where justice is perverted, the poor are oppressed, idols are worshipped and the government looks to pagan nations for help rather than to God. But we see that just as God gave words to Moses and Jeremiah, God supplied words of prophecy to Isaiah. God does not call anyone without equipping them to do the job. For reflection: To what mission has God called me? How has God equipped me for that mission? Le us pray. Lord, we bow before your holiness and acknowledge that we too are a people of unclean lips. We see justice perverted and don't speak up. We see the poor oppressed and expect someone else to do something. We see our nation turn for help to anyone but you. Cleanse us of our sin, equip us with your words, and help us to proclaim your righteousness in the land. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We have been speaking of Joseph and his brothers for a while and the terrible thing they did to him. We noted how Joseph forgave them, and their father forgave them. But did they forgive themselves and change their ways? Well, they still weren't above a little deceit. When their father died they were afraid that Joseph would rescind his forgiveness and start taking revenge on them. So they told Joseph that their father Jacob, on his deathbed, asked for Joseph to forgive them. Joseph wept when he heard this from them for he had truly forgiven them and thought that was behind them all. Why had they been unsure of his forgiveness? I think it was because they still had not forgiven themselves. Their own lack of forgiveness reared its ugly head as suspicion of Joseph. Then they slipped back into their habit of lying to get what they wanted. For reflection: It can be hard to break out of habitual ways of relating to one other. If forgiving others and forgiving ourselves becomes our habit, then other habits like lying will disappear. Let us pray. "His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers" (Luke 1:50-55). Of the 12 sons of Jacob, 9 had conspired to sell Joseph into slavery. Another one participated in the cover up. It was a terrible sin, but they were forgiven both by Joseph and by God. From those 12 came the nation of Israel. God did not choose 12 men who were without sin, he chose 12 who knew the power of forgiveness. Forgiveness restored the relationship of the brothers to Joseph. Forgiveness restored the relationship of the guilty sons to their father. They had lied to their father and kept it secret for many years. No doubt if Joseph had not forgiven his brothers, his father would not have forgiven them either. Forgiveness saved their lives. Had Joseph not forgiven them, they never could have gotten the food in Egypt that saved them from the famine. For reflection: Forgiveness still has that power today. It has the power to restore relationships and save lives. It has power across miles, across generations, across time, death and eternity. Whom do I need to forgive? Let us pray. Father, I thank you for showing me the way to forgiveness. It is possible to even forgive people who have tried to kill me, or who wished me dead, or who have lied to me for years. With your help, I choose to forgive. Often when I pray with people it seems that they think God has "put them through tough times" deliberately in order to develop their character, help them grow, or whatever. Let's take a look at this concept through the lens of Joseph's story. If this concept is true, then God meant for Joseph to be sold into slavery in order to punish him for sin, or develop his character and turn him into a great leader, or even just to get him to Egypt from his homeland. First, if all God wanted was to get Joseph from Canaan to Egypt, God could have done that any number of ways without putting Joseph through turmoil and suffering. Second, Joseph's suffering helped to develop his character and abilities as a leader, but God is not the one who sold him into slavery, or falsely accused him, or put him in prison. People did that, not God. Third, clearly God was with Joseph throughout this time. Genesis 39:2-3 tell us that God was with Joseph in Potiphar's house and that Potiphar recognized this fact and that Joseph was a blessing to him. In Genesis 39:21, it clearly says that God was with Joseph in prison where he rose to a leadership position and he had favor with the warden. When Joseph went to work for Pharaoh, it became obvious that God had raised him to that position to save Egypt from the famine. God was continually blessing Joseph, not punishing him. Finally, Joseph himself recognized that what his brothers had done to him was not the work of God. "You meant evil against me; but God has used it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive," Joseph tells his brothers after they are reconciled (Genesis 50:20). The evil, the slavery, the imprisonment were not God's doing. As with Joseph, God is with us in our trials, with us in our suffering. For reflection: How has God been with me in my trials? For what problems am I blaming God? Let us pray. If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness "We sold him for a pittance. We expected him to die. He forgave us anyway." I can just hear Joseph's brothers telling the story to each other, to their friends, to their sons and daughters. When the whole family got together over dinner, this was the story they told, generation after generation. It was a story of forgiveness they could never have believed if they hadn't experienced it themselves. What happened? In a nutshell, the jealous older brothers sold their younger brother Joseph to slave traders. Knowing that the slavers would treat their brother harshly in the desert, the brothers never expected that Joseph would make it to the slave market. But he did. He was bought in Egypt, had a rough life, and then, through a series of divine appointments, became the second most important man in Egypt. When a famine came over his homeland, the brothers came to Egypt looking for food. What they found was Joseph. And forgiveness. (Joseph's story is told in Genesis 37-50.) For reflection: Where does this kind of forgiveness come from? What stories of forgiveness can I tell from my own life? Let us pray. Father of Forgiveness, you lead me in ways in would not choose for myself. If not for you, I would not choose forgiveness; I would not choose to let go. But with your strength and your help I choose to forgive. Grandparents often joke with their children about getting the same kind of children they were, especially if they were rascals. "Just you wait," they say. "Your children will be just like you when you were growing up." Often that is true. Let's continue to look at Jacob and his life for a moment. Yes, Jacob showed favoritism among his sons and they were rivals for his affection. Where might he have experienced favoritism and sibling rivalry in his own life? Jacob had a twin brother named Esau. He and Esau were rivals for their parents' affection. The Scripture tells us that Esau was a hunter and a man of the open country while Jacob was a quiet man who stayed at home. Their father Isaac loved Esau, and their mother Rebekah loved Jacob. So Jacob grew up with favoritism being shown by his parents and in rivalry with his brother Esau (Genesis 25:19 -27:45). As a father himself, Jacob showed favoritism among his sons and experienced rivalry among them too. His boys turned out just like him and his brother Esau. For reflection: What habits of my parents have I carried forward into my life? Are they good or bad habits? Let us pray. Father God, I thank you for my parents. I thank you for the love they showed to me and that they did their best to raise me to adulthood. I thank you for being my Father also, for keeping me under your wing even today. I ask you to help me forgive my parents for not being everything that I needed them to be. I repent of judging them for what they did and did not do. I forgive them for not being perfect parents. (It is important to forgive them as specifically as you can in this type of prayer.) I ask you, Father, to bring to my mind the other things for which I need to forgive my parents. (Pay attention to memories that come up in the next couple of weeks. As God brings these to mind, forgive your parents for them.) I repent of carrying on my parents' bad habits in my own life and with my children. Forgive me for the bad ways I have acted toward my children (again, be specific and pay attention to memories that arise in the next couple of weeks). Help me to see my children through your loving eyes, Father. You are the only perfect Father. Help me to be more like you. As another area needing forgiveness let's look at a bad case of sibling rivalry. The story of Joseph and his brothers from Genesis 37 - 50 is one of the most well known in the Bible. It begins with Joseph's 10 older brothers being jealous of him because "Dad liked him best". There is plenty of blame to go around in this story, and plenty of repentance and forgiveness needed. First, the boys' dad, Jacob, should not have shown preference among his sons. Yet he did it so blatantly that they all recognized it (Genesis 37:3-4). So Jacob, head of the family, is the instigator and definitely at fault. Jacob should have repented and asked his sons' forgiveness. Second, the older brothers got fed up with the favoritism. Instead of confronting their father about it though, they took it out on Joseph. Third, Joseph should not have been flaunting his pride of place in front of his brothers, even if he was younger and less responsible than they. For Reflection: Let's concentrate on Jacob's role today. Is there any place in my life where I have shown favoritism when I should not have? At home? At work? Why am I showing favoritism? (Read James 2:1-13) Let us pray. Father, thank you for revealing to me where I am showing favoritism. I repent of that and I ask your help in correcting my attitude and my feelings. I ask your forgiveness for treating others unfairly. Please help me to treat them the way you want me to treat them. |
AliceI started this website and blog on May 1, 2012. I am a Catholic who has been in ministry for many years. I first developed what I would call a close relationship with Jesus in the early 1970s. Ever since then I have been praying with people for healing and other needs. It is because I have seen so many of these prayers answered that I am so bold as to offer to pray for you individually through this website and phone line. Archives
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