What Jesus Did! 'Reconcile!' — Matthew 5:25-26

As Jesus helps us to better understand God's intent, character, and will revealed in the law of Moses, he also shines the light of truth into all the corners we so often try to keep hidden from him. Jesus moves from our human sense of worship in the preceding verses into matters of everyday life with his radical call for reconciliation with our enemies. He wants us to settle our differences quickly before we get into legal proceedings; otherwise matters can escalate out of control and damage us as well as our influence. Jesus emphasizes the urgency of making things right. As God's human children, we may assume falsely that segmenting our lives into sacred and secular compartments is acceptable to God. We deceived ourselves into making worship a weekly event rather than an everyday lifestyle, making our segmented worship unacceptable to God (Romans 12:1-2). To keep us from thinking that settling our differences is only a "church rule" and not a "life rule," Jesus reminds us that reconciliation involves all of life, not just the "religious part." Jesus is serious about forgiveness, mercy, and reconciliation as the way of God and the lifestyle of his children.