(Chapter 3 from WHO IS THIS GUY? and What Have You Done with My Sweet Savior?)

“But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.”—Matthew 5:22

A Fictional Sunday Morning Story

It was Sunday morning and I was at church. The service was filled with spirited worship and the pastor brought stirring and passionate words in his message. At the conclusion, I walked to the back of the church and found myself standing near my respected pastor as he greeted members of the congregation while they exited.

Suddenly, a strange man I had never seen before stepped up and pointed a long boney finger in the pastor’s face as he screamed, “You dirty, low-down, poisonous snake! What a hypocrite! You preach like you’re whiter than the driven snow, but you’re a dirty and evil adulterer on the inside!”

The pastor’s jaw dropped and his eyes bulged while I and the others stepped back from the threatening power in the man’s voice.

The man plunged on. “You are a dead man condemned to hell! How dare you, being evil, act like you can speak of good things? You’re no more than a blind fool guiding other fools right off a cliff to their destruction!”

The man’s face was crimson, his voice loud, raspy, and booming. My heart was pounding in my chest as the man pointed his finger right at me and then swung it around to the others hissing, “You are blind fools who listen to these sweet but venomous words. They sound life-giving but they are messages filled with persecution, condemnation, and murder.” He barked at everyone in the foyer, “And you ARE ALL twice as much of a son of hell as your pastor!”

The man then stormed out, leaving me holding my breath, stunned and shaking. I looked at the pastor and his face was beet red, sweat streaming from his brow and washing over his face.

I looked out the church windows to see the man still animated and yelling in the parking lot, and I whispered to myself, “Who is that guy?” I exhaled and shook my head concluding, “What a jerk!”

* * *

First of all, let me be clear. The story above is a fictional one. However, it is based on some similar behavior I have witnessed by people who felt they were justified in publicly calling out a church leader. But, let me ask you. How would you characterize that person? Was he a Christian? In your mind was that person acting Christ-like?

What if I told you that there are Christians who would see that behavior as biblical and even Christ-like? That all the words used to attack that Pastor were, in essence, the same words that Christ himself used to attack the Pharisees of his day?

On many occasions throughout the gospels, Jesus attacked the Pharisees—sometimes provoked, but on occasion seemingly not. He challenged their spirituality and their ethics and called them names.

Now, we have no problem recognizing that many of the Pharisees in Jesus’s day were corrupt, harboring evil intentions and laying heavy burdens on the people. Many of us would agree they deserved to be called out and exposed for their treachery but, honestly, what about Jesus’s behavior? Shouldn’t some of Jesus’s behavior in response to the Pharisees trouble us as much as the Pharisees behavior?

Jesus warns of the danger of calling another person raca. Yet, dare I say that there are occasions where Jesus seems to be acting something like a raca? What is raca?

What or Who Is a Raca?

The word raca is found in Matthew 5:22: “But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.”

Raca is a term of reproach used among the Jews in the time of Christ, defined as a senseless, empty-headed man. Spelled raca, raka, rhaka, or raqa, it often goes untranslated, but some of the major English Bible translations give the following definitions:

• An Aramaic term of derision—Expanded Bible
• “Whoever insults his brother”—Revised Standard Version and other Bibles
• “You idiot!”—The Common English Bible
• “You empty-headed idiot!”—Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
• “You good-for-nothing!”—New American Standard Bible
• “You stupid fool!”—Lexham English Bible
• “You have no brains.”—New Life Version Bible
• “Loser” or “Fool” or “Scum”—The Voice Bible
• “You Empty Fellow”—Young’s Literal Translation Bible

So, by now you know I have my own personal translation for this Aramaic expression—jerk. While I often direct this expression toward others, for full disclosure, more often than not, I am the recipient of this offensive expression. At times I will do or say something and shake my head at myself thinking, I’m such a jerk!

In the 1980 movie, “The Jerk,” Steve Martin portrays his version of a lovable jerk who is naïvely unaware of his surroundings and handles life events foolishly. He simply does not have a lot of brain power. He is what, at the time of Jesus, would be called empty-headed or raca.

In Matthew 5:22, Jesus describes the escalating level of danger or penalty one risks when engaging in hard-hearted behavior. Below are the increasingly bad behaviors Jesus condemns in this verse.

1. Being angry at someone for no good reason: “But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.” If you are provoked to anger (orgizo) for no cause (simply because of jealousy or mean-spiritedness) you can be taken to the Krisis, which is the local courts or judges in several cities of Palestine, to be judged.
2. Slandering someone’s mental capacity: “And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council.” If you say to your brother, “Raca!” or call him empty-headed, that is an offense that could be taken up at the highest court, the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem because it is challenging one’s mental competency with serious consequences for a person’s stature in the community. (Fortunately for me, the Sanhedrin was abolished after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.)
3. Condemning someone as godless: “But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.” But, if you cry out, “You fool!” or “moros!” you are not only saying the person is foolish but impious and even godless. To call someone a fool was to declare that such a person is not a believer and is hopelessly unable to become one—and thus is not a “brother” in the eyes of the one calling them a fool. Placing this kind of judgment on another brings the risk of being considered as worthless as the rotting corpses that were being thrown into the fires of the valley of Gehenna.

So, according to Jesus to call someone a fool or “moros” is deserving of the worst of consequences—what the Christian community often refers to as the fire of hell. Yet Jesus himself called the Pharisees fools on several occasions. Does that mean Jesus is allowed to call someone a fool because his intentions are righteous, but anyone else who does the same would be looking at hell fire? Are we talking about a double standard here? What are the standards Jesus should be held to?

These are real questions that I have had as I’ve read through the gospels. I know that for many Christians, challenging Jesus’ righteousness can offend our sensibilities of who we know to be our Savior. But, the intention is to explore Jesus’ character more deeply so that we can know Him more. I love the verse from the song “To Know You” by Casting Crowns that says “To know Jesus is to want to know Him more.” Sometimes taking an honest, critical look at those we love allows us to know and love them more.

The Amplified Bible, Classic Edition translates the first part of Philippians 3:10 as – [For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly],

So, let’s take a closer look at the biblical standards of behavior and how Jesus measures up in the next chapter.

(More excerpts from ‘WHO IS THIS GUY?’ will appear in future blog posts.)