I am a Jesus pusher!! In the illustration of “murder,” Jesus concludes by moving from a physical ADVERSARY to spiritual ACCOUNTING (5:2-26). There is a definite progression in the overall passage. Jesus moves from highlighting an inner attitude of murder (Matthew 5:22) to a conflict between brothers (Matthew 5:23) to an adversary (Matthew 5:25). If I do not have the nature or attitude of God, my relationship with others progresses downward. Jesus moves from an inner spiritual condition (Matthew 5:22) to an encounter with my brother (Matthew 5:23), to an officer, to the judge, to prison (Matthew 5:25).
In other words, do not allow anyone to become your adversary. Where do we begin? It starts with your attitude, the attitude of Jesus! The focus of this passage is on my spiritual attitude. I cannot control what others may do. How they feel or what they express is beyond my jurisdiction. However, this is not true of my state. I must know the mind of Christ! Those who might be my adversaries cannot because God reconciles me with them. The adversarial attitude will be cleansed in my heart by the mind of Christ. I may be their adversary in their mind, but in my heart, they are not.
The plea of Jesus from the first words of the Sermon on the Mount is that we are the helpless ones who embrace our poverty (Matthew 5:3, 4). God fills us with His nature, forming the Kingdom of God. Flowing through and from this new creation is meekness, filling, mercy, and peace, and in the experience of persecution, we can fully see these elements (Matthew 5:10). I want my life to push Jesus!