Judgment … Sanhedrin … hell: The second and third punishments are more severe than usual in the time of Jesus. This emphasizes the surpassing righteousness of Jesus and his followers (see Matthew 5:20). They did not accept unresolved conflicts or treating other people as unimportant.
anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca’: The Aramaic term reqa’ (transliterated as raca) means something like "empty head." This probably means the same thing as cursing someone (literally if you say, ‘You fool’; compare James 2:20). Thinking that other people are unimportant is a sin that expresses itself in different ways.