“But
I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall
be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca,
shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be
in danger of hell fire.” (Matthew 5:22)
In
our world of contempt we have incorporated some pretty demeaning definitions of
one another which is making it more and more difficult to love those who are
not easy to love. By the above scripture, any form of negative interaction with
another person is a serious offence. ‘Raca’ suggests derision in both Aramaic
and Greek. The definition of derision in the English dictionary is:
contemptuous ridicule and mockery. Anciently, ‘fool’ was a common definition of
someone but we have swapped it for a more modern title of ‘idiot’. Same meaning
and same serious consequences.
Imagine
being in danger of hell by ridiculing or mocking someone. This is how seriously
God takes our treatment of one another. And this is why. In this weakened state
of mortality our understanding, perception, and even intelligence is somewhat
impaired. We can only judge by what we see and what we see is not adequate
knowledge to determine why someone does what they do.
We
are not privy to other people’s life experiences, their pains, their mentality,
their perceptions and their motivations. Nobody has lived in another person’s
skin. I heard someone say recently that they hate the word ‘empathy’. He said
empathy does not exist. The definition of it is to walk in another’s shoes to
feel what it is like to be them and that is simply not possible.
I am constantly amazed that the
Saviour loves us in this mortal state because we are so lacking. By virtue of
the Atonement, however, the Saviour has complete understanding of why we do
what we do and behave as we do. He knows the feel of our skin….because he has
been in it. He is the only one who can lay claim to empathy. Because of it He
will be able to judge us righteously and perfectly and I can assure you that
because of it He will call nobody a fool.
Tread
softly on my tender heart;
Even
though in likeness
We
are miles apart.
Though
we are separate
In
both body and mind;
We
are linked together on humanity’s path.
Tread
softly on my tender heart…..
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