Matthew 5:21-22 — Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

I’ve been having some difficult conversations today. Quite honestly, the people I was talking to weren’t really thinking. Now I know that sometimes the problem is really with me — I’m not really listening, or I’m not really understanding somebody else’s point of view — but this time it really wasn’t me. (For example, here’s a fragment of a discussion “Why do you care what it’s called, you don’t use it? — I just do” …). I was tempted, just for a moment, to apply an unkind label to someone. What stopped me is that, over time, I’ve tried to train myself not to do that because of what Jesus said to His disciples.
At first sight, what Jesus said seems extreme. OK, it’s not nice to call people names … but “you fool” is worse than killing? In fact it’s so shocking that it demands a deeper look.
“Raca” is really an Arabic word coming from a root meaning “to spit”. It means “empty headed” or vain, empty or worthless. So it really isn’t very nice … but there’s more to it even than that.
I think there’s really two things going on. First, there’s a heart issue. There’s feeling angry, then there’s letting your anger out and calling someone a rude name, and then there is verbal abuse, calling someone a “fool”. Actually the word used for “fool” might suggest more than that. The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament says “The word implies censure on man himself; his acts, thoughts, counsels, and words are not as they should be. The weakness may be due to a specific failure in judgment or decision, but a general deficiency of intellectual and spiritual capacities may also be asserted.” — The harsh words are either a preliminary to, or a substitute for, much worse. “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:” (Matthew 15:19)
The second thing is that there is at least the risk of blasphemy. Any one of our fellow men (or women) is one of God’s creatures — “fearfully and wonderfully made”. Verbal abuse suggests the Creator’s work is less than perfect. None of us should dare to make such a suggestion.
Thinking this through, I realize I need to work harder on labels. It’s not just not saying them. I have to stop thinking them too!