“If, then, you are bringing your gift to the altar and you there remember that your brother has something against you,

Matthew 5:23

“Bringing Your Gift to the Altar”

Jesus here paints a vivid picture: A Jewish worshiper has come to Jerusalem for one of the annual festivals. He has a gift—likely an animal—to sacrifice to Jehovah.a Offering a sacrifice was far from a meaningless ritual. Explains the book Judaism—Practice and Belief: “Selecting fat, unblemished victims, seeing them inspected by experts, walking with them to within a few yards of the flaming altar, handing them over, laying hands on the head, confessing impurity or guilt, or otherwise dedicating the animal, slitting its throat, or even just holding it—these guaranteed the meaningfulness and awesomeness of the moment. . . . No one who believed that God had commanded the entire service . . . could go through it without being caught up in it.”

Jesus’ words at Matthew 5:23, 24 thus transport his listeners to a moment filled with meaning and awe to the Jewish worshiper. One Bible scholar describes the scene this way: “The worshipper has entered the Temple; he has passed through its series of courts, the Court of the Gentiles, the Court of the Women, the Court of the Men. Beyond that there lay the Court of the Priests into which the layman could not go. The worshipper is standing at the rail, ready to hand over his victim to the priest; his hands are on [the animal’s head] to confess.”

At that crucial moment, the worshiper remembers that his brother has something against him. It may be that his own conscience tells him this, or it may be that he has sensed from his brother’s attitude toward him that there is some feeling of offense. What is he to do?