SAINT POLYCARP, BISHOP AND MARTYR (OPTIONAL MEMORIAL)

Leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother.

Jesus wasn’t talking here to people who lived across the street from the Temple. He was talking to people living in Galilee. So for them, bringing a “gift to the altar” (Matthew 5:23) required a nearly eighty-mile trip to Jerusalem. Imagine someone making that journey and realizing, with just five miles to go, that they needed to return home to reconcile with a brother!

It seems drastic. But to Jesus, the way we treat people is a big deal. His words emphasize the importance of resolving tensions in relationships rather than letting them persist. So he urges us, especially when we’re getting ready to come to worship, to examine our relationships and, where necessary, return and reconcile before doing anything else.

Did you also notice that Jesus wants us to “leave our gift at the altar” and reconcile with someone who has something against us (Matthew 5:23)? How are we even supposed to know when this is the case?

You don’t have to read someone else’s mind to know if they have something against you. All you need to do is examine your own conscience. Search your heart and see if the Holy Spirit brings a situation to mind. If you see that you’ve hurt someone, or even recognize that you are avoiding someone you think is angry with you, then it’s time to seek reconciliation.

How? It depends. If your words have damaged the person, try to reconnect and make amends. If you have taken something material, or “stolen” someone’s good name through gossip, do what you can to restore it. Reconcile wherever possible. But sometimes you can’t. At those times, bring the situation to the Lord and ask his forgiveness even if you can’t ask the other person.

It’s a serious thing to hurt our brothers and sisters. Serious enough that Jesus said it’s better to walk eighty miles to reconcile. So let’s make peace with the people in our lives before we come to the Lord in worship.

“Jesus, help me to see any ways that I need to reconcile with someone.”

Ezekiel 18:21-28
Psalm 130:1-8
Matthew 5:20-26