“You have heard that it was said to your ancestors,
You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.
But I say to you,
whoever is angry with his brother
will be liable to judgment;
and whoever says to his brother, ‘Raqa,’
will be answerable to the Sanhedrin;
and whoever says, ‘You fool,’
will be liable to fiery Gehenna.

If each of us used the energy we expend on anger and used it on kindness for our fellow man our lives and others would be full of joy.
The actor Michael Landon was driving home one Friday afternoon on a Los Angeles freeway.
It was hot, and the traffic was horrendous. Horns were blaring, tempers were flaring, and people were hurling insults at one another from open car windows.

Landon questioned himself – why is there so much anger everywhere?
Why do people hate one another so much?
Why is so much energy wasted on rage?
However,
What would happen if we would expend that energy on kindness rather than on rage?

Landon’s mind went back to his own childhood and the anger that often raged between his Catholic mother and his Jewish father.
Suddenly he thought – Why couldn’t there be a television series dedicated to the idea that kindness, not anger, is the real answer to life’s problems? At that moment the idea was conceived for the TV show “Highway to Heaven.”

The point of each episode of “Highway to Heaven” is the same point Jesus makes in the Sermon on the Mount, from which today’s gospel is taken. Jesus urged the people to show kindness to one another,
even to the point of “turning the other cheek”
when someone treated them unkindly.

Warning those who treated others with anger,
Jesus says in today’s gospel:
“You have heard that it was said…
‘Whoever kills will be liable to judgement.’
But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgement.”
Jesus himself lived this message, showing kindness to sinners, showing compassion to the sick, showing mercy to his enemies.

Today’s readings invite us to take a look at our own lives and to ask ourselves how much kindness is present in them.
They invite us to take a look at our own lives
and our love
and to ask ourselves how they compare to the life and the love Jesus describes in his Sermon on the Mount.

They invite us to take a look at our own lives
and to ask ourselves what would happen
if we took the energy we now expend on anger
and expend it on kindness.

How would our lives and the lives of those around us change and become happier?

What miracle might even result if we took seriously Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount?

In the final examination,
kindness is a power greater than nuclear power itself.
And it is not the resource
of just a single nation or a single person.
It is a resource that is at the disposal
of every person in every nation,
no matter how insignificant or how poor.

And what is more,
our supply of kindness is not limited.
It is unlimited.
The more we give of it,
the more there is to give.

I challenge you to ask God for guidance in using your power of kindness,
to bring happiness to those around us,
to help us to use it to work miracles,
healing people in our time,
just as Jesus healed people
in his time.