Thou shalt not kill. Anger with your brother has been the problem from the beginning. It started when Cain killed Abel. There was enmity between Isaac and Ishmael, between Jacob and Esau, between Joseph and his brothers, between Moses and Aaron and their sister, too. David had trouble with his brothers and Absolam murdered his own brother. Jesus, Himself, had envious brothers and the Apostles, brothers in the Lord, envied one another and were seeking the places of honor. Judas betrayed his brothers and by his betrayal killed his spiritual elder brother, the Lord of glory.
But we are here at the Lord’s table, gathered as the children of God, brothers and sisters in Christ, friends of our elder brother, the Lord Jesus. There is no place for envy here. We do not seek to put ourselves above our brother Jesus, nor above His friends to our left and to our right. We esteem others higher than ourselves, seeking rather to wash their feet than to rise up above them. The old way of enmity between brothers has been killed and therefore, we shall not kill with word or deed, with tongue or thought. But we shall love and serve, for love covers a multitude of sins.
The old ways are gone and behold all things are new in Christ Jesus. We are set free to be one with our brothers and sisters. This is what we declare here in this meal.
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