Is Christ Teaching to Put Men Before God?

Mat 5:23 Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you;
Mat 5:24
Leave there your gift before the altar, and go your way; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

In these two verses, Christ addresses our priorities. Remember, we are still working in the context of Christ filling in the commandment against murder. Also remember that this commandment against murder is the first commandment that Christ addresses, making it seem the most important, at least in his eyes. He does not start with commandments regarding our relationship with God. Rather he starts with a commandment about our relationship with other people.

Here, he makes that priority more clear. We should not put our religion or religious duties about our relationships with other people. This is a revolutionary idea and one that does not get nearly enough attention in the preaching of the Gospels.

What also makes this verse so interesting is its recognition of timing. In many, perhaps most, of Christ's words, there is a timeless quality that joins cause and effect, the young and the old, the crime and the judgment. It doesn't matter to Christ if repentence comes early or late. The relevant fact is that it comes. You would expect this from a mind that perceives the reality in the eternal moment, in which all of time is equally accessible.

However, here we have a clear setting of priorities: deal with earthly problems first and then worry about your relationship with God. God does not care about time. Humans, however, are bound by it. It is not that God is less important than other men, but that time is simply more important for humans. Hence, our priorities as far as timing must favor our duties to our fellow humans.

So much of what Christ teaches is counter-intuitive when we first hear it. I think that this is why most preacher don't talk about Christ's words as much as, say Paul's, because Christ is much more difficult. However, whenever we spend time thinking about what Christ says, we find unexpected depth in simplicity, and correct logic in what seems initially backward.