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Seeking Out Reconciliation
You have heard that the ancients were told, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER ' and 'Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.' But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ' You good-for-nothing,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering. (Matthew 5:21-24 NASB)
I've often misread this passage. Since my anger is what is under consideration, I made the jump to thinking that my anger against a brother is what needs to be dealt with before I engage in worship before God. While that may be part of the teaching here, I believe it's secondary to something else.
Notice that Jesus' application states that if I remember that my brother has something against me, I should go seek reconciliation. Jesus doesn't apply His teaching by saying "deal with your anger before you present your offering." That application would be entirely internal. The actual application is both internal and external, and it hinges on my brother having something against me, not the other way around.
The point Jesus makes here is simple but profound: your brother's feelings are more important than yours. I think the implication here is that in my anger, I've done something to cause my brother to harbor some bad feelings towards me. In fact, maybe I'm not even angry at my brother any longer. However, he has something against me. Jesus says the duty for reconciliation is on me, not my brother.
We don't take animal sacrifices to a temple to offer. We are the temple (1 Pet 2:4,5), and our lives are the sacrifices we offer (Rom 12:1). We cannot delay or fail to seek out reconciliation with our brothers. If we do, we may find that God's response to our sacrifice is "Didn't I tell you to be reconciled to your brother first? So, then, what is this sacrifice to me?"
