Mt 5:20-26
[Jesus said to his disciples,] 20“I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
21“You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, ‘You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.’ 22But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment, and whoever says to his brother, ‘Raqa,’ will be answerable to the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ will be liable to fiery Gehenna. 23Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, 24leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court with him. Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge, and the judge will hand you over to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. 26Amen, I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.”
Whoever is angry. There are times when Jesus seems to be very lax, eating with sinners and doing work on the Sabbath. At other times, he is very strict, declaring that a lustful look can be adultery and a curse can be murder. So what is Jesus’ real stand?
Ordinary good people, it is said, do good. But great people do good and more. It is this more that makes the difference, separating the men from the boys. Jesus urges us to do more, way beyond what ordinary people do. He himself does this when he goes all the way to prove his love for all of us, dying on the cross.
We are not called to be ordinary people. We are challenged to contribute more to our world. And we will never discover that something extra unless we push ourselves some more!