Jesus, in his Sermon on the Mount, startlingly widened the sixth commandment’s reach (cf. Exodus 20:13). Contempt or anger, leading to words that tear down and destroy others, is as morally destructive as the physical act of murder, he said. So do your best to make this a happy Labor Day. This holiday is the traditional start of the fall campaign season, full of negative ads and angry rhetoric, and it recalls a history of tense, often angry, labor/ management showdowns.

• Scholar William Barclay showed how Jesus condemned, first, “the anger over which a person broods, and which he will not allow to die;” then the Aramaic word raca, which he said is “almost untranslatable, because it describes a tone of voice… It’s the whole accent of contempt;” and finally the Greek m?ros, the most deadly offense. “To call a man m?ros was not to criticize his mental ability; it was to cast aspersions on his moral character; to take his name and reputation from him.” Reflect on how Jesus’ words apply to the political speech of candidates and big-money ad campaigns, and your personal speech about candidates and office-holders.
• Most of us, it seems, have an innate bias to favor one side over the other when we hear of a labor dispute (whether between millionaire ballplayers and owners, or between minimum wage custodians and management). Which side do you tend to favor, based on your upbringing, temperament and beliefs? How might we use Labor Day, not to divide us from one another, but to help us appreciate the crucial role both sides play in the working of our overall economy?