Shut Up

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

SHUT UP

Matt 5:21-22

21 "You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.

NIV

We know that Jesus is referring to what we call the Ten Commandments when he said, “You have heard that is was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder,’ “ . However, Jesus is going past those Commandments, expanding them, in some sense replacing them with a far greater approach both our attitude and behavior toward our fellow believers. The anger is not what we would consider being angry in a upset or mad type emotional feeling. Jesus explains what this angry is about. First, he refers to the word the Jews used, “Raca”. It is a term that implies contempt, looking down upon, which then indicates the one using that term feels superior, or thinking more highly of themselves then they ought to. Jesus said that whoever uses that term is answerable to the Sanhedrin, which means it was covered under the law. Using the term, “Raca” was against the Law. However, although Jesus lived perfectly within the law, thus fulfilling it, so that we do not need to live under the law, but only live in Him, he went past the law, and established a better moral conduct. The use of the term, “You fool”, is more then an attitude of contempt. It has this meaning of saying, “Shut up!”. In other words, “You have nothing of value to say, you are stupid, foolish in your thinking and we do not care about how you feel or what you think about anything, so just shut up”. Maybe we do not do that intentionally, but when we interrupt someone who is talking, are we doing just that? Are we saying in some sense, shut up, we want to talk now, for what we have to say is more important than what you are saying? We are afraid we may be guilty of that, and we need to repent of how we think regarding how we behave, rather our attitude, which usually results in behavior. Listening may be far better then speaking in many cases. In addition, this does not excuse being angry because we feel that we have been offended. This sense that just because we are speaking, we want everyone else to shut up, because what we have to say is far more important than whatever they would have to say. In other words, we need to speak our peace first and foremost, then if we have fully expressed ourselves, we might be open to hearing what you have to say, but if it does not match what we think, then in essence, just shut up, your words are foolish, meaningless to us. Jesus made it clear that we need to live with grace and love in our hearts toward all our fellow believers. That means we never say or even think, “Shut up”.