Today's topic: Contempt for your fellow man.
Contempt is a greater evil than anger and so is deserving of greater condemnation. Unlike innocent anger, it is a kind of studied degradation of another, and it also is more pervasive in life than anger. In anger I want to hurt you. In contempt, I don't care whether you are hurt or not. We can be angry at someone without denying their worth. But contempt makes it easier for us to hurt them or see them further degraded.
I'm sure that this topic arises much in our thoughts today. When we think of serious contempt we drift to racism or bigotry or sexism. These people, we think, truly look down on their fellow man. They look on such others with contempt and speak of them with degradation.
Certainly this is an obvious form of contempt, and we realize it is despicable in most cases. I think, however, that contempt arises more commonly in our society among socio-economic classes or educational background. Jesus spoke of calling people "fools." We would probably throw in a substitute word depending on our background.
"You're so stupid!"
"You're such an idot!"
"Ah, that jerk! He cut me off!"
Our derogatory language stems from contempt, which often sparks originally from anger. We spoke last week of anger and Jesus' instruction to rid our hearts of it. Without anger, contempt can be curtailed before it starts. If we do not indulge anger, we have no need to become contemptuous of individuals in order to express our anger.
But supposing we do become angry, and this does progress into a vulgar or crude degradation of our fellow man. In this case, we have hit them harder than if we'd simply stuck to simple anger.
To belong is a vital need based in the spiritual nature of the human being. Contempt spits on this pathetically deep need. Just by being what it is, it is withering to the human soul. But when expressed, it stabs the soul to its core and deflates its powers of life. It can hurt so badly and destroy so deeply that murder would almost be a mercy.
When we speak with contempt towards others, we lower them from their status as human beings. We place them at a lower level, one deserving of our contempt, and then we can happily write off their error as pertaining to their lower status or perhaps mental capabilities.
"Of course he messed up, he is a moron after all."
I need not expand on why or how this leads to destruction. Jesus speaks of a person speaking to another human with contempt as one who is in the dangers of the fire of hell. Consider for a moment the pro-Nazi propaganda that allowed our European ancestors to exterminate entire groups of people, simply because they no longer thought of them as people. Or perhaps they did think of them as people. Normal people. While they were advancing the super-race, which somehow rose a level above the humanity of yore.
Jesus knew what he was talking about when he condemned contempt, anger, and derogatory language.
Jesus is giving us a revelation of the preciousness of human beings. He means to reveal the value of persons. Obviously merely not killing others cannot begin to do justice to that. By no means is he simply giving here three more things not to do, three more points on a "list" of things to be avoided. Certainly we are not to do them, but that is not the point.
Jesus points these things out to call attention to the hearts that produce such things. Think about it, a heart that is filled with contempt for fellow man cannot be at that time filled with love for him. So we must stop the contempt of our hearts. But do not cease there. Simply not harboring contempt will not solve the problem. Filling one's heart with love, on the other hand, will.
When I treasure those around me and see them as God's creatures designed for his eternal purposes, I do not make an additional point of not hating them or calling them twerps or fools. "He that loves has fulfilled the law." (Romans 13:8)
Again, we find in Jesus' sermon the overarching theme of possessing the Kingdom Heart. A loving heart does not break the law, simply because to love means NOT breaking the law.
For all their necessity, goodness, and beauty, laws that deal only with actions, such as the Ten Commandments, simply cannot reach the human heart, the source of actions. "If a law had been given capable of bringing people to life, then righteousness would have come from the law." (Galatians 3:21) But law, for all its magnificence, cannot do that. Graceful relationship sustained with the masterful Christ can.
If you have been reading these posts the past few weeks, you will see how everything has come together under one unified message. Even in this simple statement of "do not call a brother 'Raca'," Jesus is laying down the foundation for true living of an eternal life.
You thought it was just a list of things not to do, didn't you? That is part of the Divine Conspiracy.
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