Matthew 5:23-24 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.”

Are you content to have certain people as enemies? Have you resigned yourself to not liking them, and them not liking you? Maybe your relationship went south because of something he did. Maybe it is because of something you did. Maybe it will be possible to repair the damage and heal the wounds. Maybe it won’t. But if we understand what Jesus says about anger, insults and righteousness, we are going to try fix it.

Consider the context of the scenario Jesus presents. You are an Old Testament worshiper, and you have brought your lamb, or your calf, to sacrifice on God’s altar at the temple. Why would you be doing such a thing? The sacrifice was an object lesson in finding a restored relationship with God. We offended him with our sin. The wages of sin is death. We are sorry for what we have done and repent. Forgiveness comes only with the shedding of blood.

But God doesn’t want to kill us. It’s not our blood he seeks. He wants to restore us. He wants to be friends again. So he allows a substitute. We bring an animal as a picture of the sacrifice his Son would someday make in our place. This satisfies God’s justice. It restores the relationship. God forgives us. We are reconciled.

Now there is another person God made and redeemed no less than you or me. The Lord loves him or her just as much. The two of you are having a tiff. Who started it really isn’t important. Anger and insults invite God’s judgment, as Jesus makes clear. The Lord is willing to forgive us for the way we have offended him. It is why we can approach his altar with our gift. Does it make sense to seek to be God’s friend while we are living as enemies with another one of his children? Is that even possible?

This scenario for New Testament Christians is only slightly different. We don’t bring God cattle and sheep. Jesus has sacrificed for our sins once for all at the cross. But the altar on which we lay our monetary gifts, in front of which we bring God our sacrifice of praise and worship, is still a symbol of God’s forgiveness and grace.

In the Lord’s Prayer Jesus taught us to pray, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Maybe we can’t convince the other person to be forgiving to us. But we can show them the grace in our hearts. We can show God that “we get it” when it comes to the way he has forgiven us, by reaching out to those who have something against us. Then we can come and offer our gifts as people God has made righteous by grace.