ПРИМИРЕНИЕ

Paul, encouraging us to reconcile, said: “Let not the sun go down on your anger” (Eph. 4:26). Just as Christ exhorts us to reconciliation by pointing out the time of sacrifice, so Paul exhorts us to the same thing by pointing out the time of day. He fears the night, fearing that it, catching a man tormented by anger in solitude, will further irritate his wounds. During the day, many can both distract and tear us away from anger, and at night, when a person is left alone and deep in thought, the waves rise stronger and the storm rages with greater fury. By warning of this, Paul wants us to face the night, reconciled, so that the devil does not take advantage of our solitude and further inflame the furnace of wrath. In the same way, Christ does not tolerate the slightest delay, lest after the sacrifice was completed, the one who offered it would become more careless and would not put off reconciliation from day to day. He knew that this passion had to be extinguished as soon as possible. Just as a wise doctor offers not only remedies that protect against illness, but also those that help change it, so does Christ. The prohibition to call another mad is a medicine that protects against enmity, and the command to reconcile with one’s neighbor serves to remove diseases that arise after enmity. Look with what strictness He prescribes to do both. There he threatens with hell, but here, before reconciliation, he does not want to accept even a gift, and thereby shows how great His anger is against those at war. Thus He plucks out both the root and the fruit thereof. First he says: don’t be angry; and then - do not utter swear words, since one thing is strengthened by the other - swearing increases from enmity, and enmity from swearing increases. That is why He first destroys the root, and then the fruit, and does not allow evil to arise at the very beginning; if it is already growing and bearing harmful fruit, it burns it completely. For the same purpose, after the mention of judgment, hosts, hell and instructions regarding the offering of sacrifice, Christ adds the following: “Make peace with your adversary quickly, while you are still on the way with him” (Matthew 5:25). Do not say: what should I do if they offend me, if they take away my property and drag me to court? Even in this case, Christ forbids harboring enmity, taking away any reason or pretext for it. Since this command was especially important, the Lord convinces us to fulfill it by pointing not to future benefits, but to present benefits, which are more likely to curb rude people than promises of the future. You say: he is stronger than me and hurts me? But won't he cause you even more harm if you do not reconcile with him and are forced to go to prison? Having reconciled, you will give up your property, but your body will be free; and when you subject yourself to the judge’s verdict, you will be bound and suffer the most severe punishment. If you avoid this strife, you will gain two benefits: firstly, you will not tolerate any trouble; secondly, it will be your virtue, and not a consequence of coercion. If you do not want to heed my admonitions, then you will not harm your opponent so much as you will harm yourself. See how Christ here also urges you to be reconciled as soon as possible. Having said: make peace with your opponent, he adds: quickly. But not content with this, He offers a new incentive to seek a speedy reconciliation, saying: while you are still on the way with him, in order through all this to more strongly incline you and force you to end the quarrel. In fact, nothing disrupts order in our lives so much as our slowness and constant delays in doing good deeds. Such slowness is often the reason that we lose everything. Therefore, as Paul says: before the sun sets, cease hostility, and above Christ himself exhorts: before you offer a gift, be reconciled - so here he encourages the same, saying: quickly, while you are still on the way with him - before you have yet reached the door of the judgment seat, until you have appeared before the judge and are ultimately in his power. Until you go to court, you are complete master over yourself; but as soon as you cross its threshold, you are already the slave of another, and no matter how much you strengthen yourself, you can no longer dispose of yourself as you want. What does it mean: make peace? This means either that you agree to better endure the insult, or that you look at the matter, putting yourself in the place of your opponent, so as not to violate justice out of pride, but, speaking about your own business as if it were someone else’s, pronounce an impartial verdict. If this seems too big to you, don't be surprised. This is why Christ foreshadowed all the already known beatitudes, so that, having smoothed the path and prepared the soul of the listener, he would make it more capable of accepting all these laws (6). You might be interested in: