First-century Galilee is a quiet place. The residents in Galilee’s towns and villages feel safe. And why shouldn’t they? The crime rate is low across the region. No one ever thinks to lock their homes. There’s no need to. No one worries about strange noises outside at night. There’s nothing to be afraid of. Like most country towns, everybody knows everybody and everybody feels secure.

Occasionally minor offenses create small inconveniences, but nothing life-threatening. A few mischievous kids may vandalize a boat or swipe a fishing net or something like that. But no one can seem to remember the last time something big happened, like a murder. Crime is rare, and murder is simply unheard of. Things like that just don’t happen in first-century Galilee.

Yet one day a man comes traveling through this peaceful region with some pretty shocking news! In essence he declares the whole region a crime scene. He informs a group of people that murders are running rampant in the area. Virtually every day—sometimes multiple times each day—people are killing each other.

But these are not typical, run-of-the-mill murders. The interesting thing about these murders is what’s missing at each of the crime scenes. At any of these scenes there’s no yellow crime scene ribbon marking off the perimeter. No weapon. No blood. No suspects. No cops. No crime scene investigators. And, oddly enough, no body.

You see, in these murders no one dies. There are victims but no fatalities. There are casualties but no corpses. What Jesus seems to be describing are deathless murders.

Before the group of listening ears, Jesus revisits and revisions the sixth command, which states, You shall not murder (Ex. 20:13 NKJV). According to Jesus’ radical interpretation of this commandment, it’s not just the act of murder that’s denounced. The attitude of murder is also condemned.

This is understood in that Jesus equates unjustified and uncontrolled anger with murder. Both the person who is angry and the person who murders are in danger of the judgment. The consequence is the same for each offense.

Jesus continues with statements that are increasingly severe. The person who calls someone "Raca," which basically means something like "mentally worthless idiot," will be in danger of the council. And whoever attacks a person’s character by calling him a fool will be in danger of the fires of hell.

Isn’t this how conflicts commonly escalate? Anger, if it doesn’t lead to violent murder, often leads to verbal insults. And in either case, whether the shot is fired from a gun or a tongue, the end result is tragic: a broken relationship. But the good news about deathless murders is that reconciliation is possible. If you act quickly, the relationship can be brought back to life.

Are there relationships in your life in need of CPR—Christians Performing Reconciliation? Is there a chance that you need to set down this bulletin and pick up the phone or a pen or the keys to your car and mend a broken relationship?

 ~Daniel Hope

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