No Name Calling

Jesus’s teaching focuses on the heart. While teaching about anger, Jesus reveals that anger is murder in seed form. After referring to the law given through Moses (“Do not murder”), Jesus clarifies that seething or simmering hatred of another is also what this command was originally against. “Raca” is a derogatory term that refers to someone as “empty-headed” or an “idiot.” Jesus says his followers are to be people who speak and live in life-giving ways rather than ways that foster or harbor hate...