Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny.
Matthew 5:23-26

There are several issues contained in these four verses:

First, that (v.23) begins with the word “therefore,” connects (v.23-26) to the matter addressed in (v.21-21): sinful anger and murder. In these four verses Jesus is “fleshing out” further application.

Second, Jesus makes it clear that when we are not right with others, we are not right for worship. Of course we cannot always be reconciled with others if they are unwilling. The point is that we who worship God must be the ones to do what we can to initiate and bring about reconciliation. As Paul admonishes in Romans 12:18, “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.”

Third, note that Jesus is speaking about when someone else is at odds with you, not merely when you are at odds with someone else. This means we are to care what others think about us—especially if we have done something to give offense. In some cases we may have given offense and therefore we are the ones who must seek to make things right by humbling ourselves and asking for forgiveness. But according to Jesus we must seek to clear things up either way. If we did no wrong to warrant offense (but an offense has been supposed), we must still be the ones to initiate reconciliation, humbling ourselves while seeking clarification. And what if we are not guilty of wrong doing, but the other person insists we are? We need not admit guilt for what we have not done, but we whether reconciliation can be achieved or not, we can and should seek forgiveness for having offended (even if we have done no wrong).

Jesus’ words are clear that we are to go to the other person, not because we have an issue with them, but because the other person has an issue with us. However, I believe that if we have an issue with another person, we need to get that cleared up as well. How to do this without making matters worse: Next time.