“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.” (Matthew 5:23-24)
Firstly, we need to highlight the fact that remembering interpersonal conflicts at the altar is a manifestation of the grace of God. Here we are reminded to be sensitive and spiritually discerning in regards to what happens to us at the altar as a place where we stand in God’s presence not only to minister to Him with our offering but also be ministered to by his Spirit….
Secondly, it is important that we don’t fail to notice that God cares about our offering, meaning, He cares to receive our offering. Hence, we’re told to leave the offering at the altar most likely so that we can come back to offer it. It means that we are to go and be reconciled with a brother or sister with the view to offer or being mindful of our gift to God.
In other words, to have God receive/accept our gift has to be important enough as to motivate us to go and be reconciled to our brother or sister. Here we learn that God cannot accept our offering unless we are reconciled to them first, there is no way around it.
Thirdly, we notice that going to be reconciled must be done first, that is, as a prerequisite to our gift being accepted by God. Here we learn that offering a gift to God is one thing and God accepting it is another. We hope most of us, if not all, aim for our gift to be accepted by God, don’t we?
However, we realize that this is not always so as some of us offer gift in order to be seen by men like the Pharisees (cf. Matthew 23: 5). Moreover, some of us assume that God accepts/receives every gift we offer Him, as if we have not really read about Cain and Abel in Genesis 4. Sadly, some even bring ill-gotten gifts to God as offering!…. Mercy.
We are told in Genesis 4:4-5 that God accepted Abel’s offering but rejected Cain: “The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain he did not look with favor.” (Verses 4 & 5) Already in verse 3 we are told that “Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord.” However, Abel, on the other hand, “brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock” (verse 4).It is hard to miss the contrast in terms of the quality of offering they each brought before the Lord: Some of the fruits vs fat portions from some of the firstborn. We note that Cain could have brought some of the first fruits, but he did not,did he?
Hence, most preachers often use Cain and Abel’s offerings to impress on their congregations the need to consider the kind (quality) of offering they bring to God…. However, we can hear the Lord Jesus here saying that it doesn’t matter the quality (size or amount) of your gift (offering) for God cannot accept it as long as you do not go to be reconciled to your brother or sister upon remembering, or being reminded, at the altar that they have something against you.
We used to try and imagine the kind of possible situations that could be involved here: What thing could my brother or sister hold against me? Recently the Holy Spirit made us realize that we didn’t have to look far as the answer is in the text itself. Here we understand that the main issue is simply our refusal to (or do what it takes to) reconcile with them as clearly reconciliation to them hinges on us going to be reconciled…..
Finally, we must stress that there is no better way to reveal the significance God attached to, and the power of, interpersonal relationships than in the verse of our meditation today (Matthew 5:23-24). As noted above, the expression “first go and be reconciled to them” clearly indicates what should the priority be from God’s perspective.
May God help us all!
