“So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.”  

Jesus gives two illustrations of anger in verses 23 through 26.

Temple worship (vv. 23, 24)

Legal action (vv. 25, 26)

In both of these illustrations the hearer is the cause of anger.

5:23

So if you are offering your gift at the altar

The situation here involves a person bringing his offering to the brazen altar in the temple courtyard.

and there remember that your brother has something against you,

This is a just complaint.

5:24

leave your gift there before the altar and go.

It is of greater priority to deal with sin than to go through formal worship. “Leave your gift” is the idea of “do not complete your offering.” The time for worship is after reconciliation.

First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

The word “first” is first in priority. “Get reconciled” is the idea of the Greek. Reconciliation takes priority over giving a gift to a religious institution.

5:25

Verses 26 and 27 deal with legal action. The second illustration also concerns the importance of reconciling differences quickly.

Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court,

The legal system in the time of Jesus required the plaintiff to hunt down the defendant to bring him to justice.

Jesus encouraged offenders to settle their case out of court.

lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison.

If the case went to court, the offender might be imprisoned. The judge would hand the accused over to a guard to be put in jail.

5:26

Truly, I say to you,

Again, this is an emphatic statement. Jesus contrasted His view of the Law with that of the scribes and Pharisees.

you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

The Sanhedrin of 70 men would send this person to prison until he paid his debt.

PRINCIPLE:

Decisive action against sin is spiritually freeing.

APPLICATION:

Quick reconciliation is Jesus’ standard for differences. The person in the wrong should be quick to admit it and settle with the accuser speedily.

Initiative to correct wrong is life at a higher level. We cannot be right with God until we are right with men.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 Jn 1:8-9