You tell us, "how pleasant it is for breathren to dwell together in unity!" (cf. Psa. 133:1). But we get angry with our brothers. They make little mistakes and we are ready to insult them, to say "Raqa" in our hearts even if not out loud. We are all too ready to entertain the thought that they are foolish.
Teach us to love our brothers. Teach us to be reconciled with them and to have unity with them. Teach us to "keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace" (cf. Eph. 4:3). If we block this unity we sabotage our unity with you, too, LORD. It is you who try to restore us to unity with our brothers. If we block this effort we end up separating ourselves from you, too.
Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar,
and there recall that your brother
has anything against you,
leave your gift there at the altar,
go first and be reconciled with your brother,
and then come and offer your gift.
Our brothers sometimes do things which seem like us to be mistakes or failings. We are quick to assume that they do these things because of their faults: they are not wise enough, they do not have enough self-control, they have a lapse of judgment, or something else. We place ourselves in judgment over them to no benefit to ourselves or to them. Jesus, if you were to treat us this way we wouldn't last long:
If you, O Lord, mark iniquities, who can stand?
But you do not treat us this way.
But with you is forgiveness,
that you may be revered.
You are as understanding as can be. You don't just forgive those who crucify you. You render the best assessment of our motives as you can, the motives that excuse our transgression to the largest degree possible. You say, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing" (cf. Luk. 23:34) and you teach us to say the same thing.
You do not "derive any pleasure from the death of the wicked". But we are all too ready to allow ourselves the subtle, perhaps even subconscious, feelings of superiority that we experience when we judge the motives of our brothers. Teach us to not mark their iniquities, just as you do not mark ours. Sometimes we must reprove our brothers. Now we realize just how dangerous this responsibility is for us. If we see genuine fault we may have to act for their sake. But we must never give these thoughts room to give us any sense of pleasure or superiority. We must learn to take the plank first from our own eye (cf. Mat. 7:5).
Our righteousness will never surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees on our own. But if we put our trust in you it can. You fill us with your own righteousness so that we "become the righteousness of God" (cf. 2 Cor. 5:21). It is you that give us unity with our brothers. It is you who work in us "to will and to act in order to fulfill" your "good purpose" (cf. Phi. 2:12). And so we entrust ourselves to you with great confidence.
I trust in the LORD;
my soul trusts in his word.
My soul waits for the LORD
more than sentinels wait for the dawn.
Let Israel wait for the LORD.
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