“If
your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is
better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown
into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it
away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole
body go into hell.
Matthew
5:29-30
Two
fellows opened a butcher shop and prospered. Then an evangelist came to town,
and one of the butchers was saved. He tried to persuade his partner to accept
salvation also, but to no avail. “Why won’t you, Charlie?” asked the born-again
fellow. “Listen, Lester,” the other butcher said. “If I get religion, too,
who’s going to weigh the meat?”
Day
before yesterday we saw Jesus saying to the Pharisees that their problem was
too deep for their self-righteousness to handle. In the verse for today’s
meditation Jesus goes a step further i.e How you do get out of this
situation? If day before yesterday it
was about the deed and desire today it is about deliverance.
When we
read the verses we might be tempted to say that what Jesus is saying is
absolutely incongruous. We saw that Jesus was more concerned about the heart of
the message. If that’s the case we are left with a question - If Jesus is saying
the issue is the heart, why is He asking us to pluck out our eye or cut our hand.
Don’t blind and handicapped people lust?
The
point is Jesus is not saying that there is a physical remedy for a heart
problem. That would undermine the whole
point. This is what He is saying. To a Jew, the right eye, and the right arm,
and the right leg were symbols of the best facility that a man had. The right was always symbolic of the better
of the two. And He is simply saying,
“There is nothing too precious to eliminate from your life if it’s going to
cause your heart to be pandered in its adulterous desires.” That’s what He saying. If it means getting rid of your most precious
possession, then get rid of it, even if it’s your right eye or your right arm.
Jesus
further states in Matthew 18:7-9, “Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For
it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the
temptation comes! And if your hand or your foot causes you to
sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled
or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. And
if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for
you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of
fire.”
Sin must
be dealt with radically. Paul says, “I
beat my body to bring it into subjection” (1 Corinthians 9:27). Jesus too calls for immediate action.
He diagnoses the problem and says, “Pluck it out. Cut it off.
Eliminate it, whatever it is in your life, whatever it is. Whatever it is that feeds that heart of lust,
whatever it is that feeds that adulterous thought, get rid of it.”
Yet,
Jesus’ point is that our connection with God should be our most important
movement in life. Nothing should get in the way. And when it does, we’re in
trouble. Because our priorities aren’t in the right place.
When we
look at lusting after others. The root is self-pleasure. It’s making sure that
we are the center of the universe. That we need to be in control and we are our
own god. It’s a thirst to make sure we are satisfied, in whatever way that
means. For some it is sexual. For others something else.
Anything
that morally or spiritually traps us, causes us to fall into sin or to stay
in sin, should be eliminated quickly and totally. Does TV entice us to sin? Is
it dragging us down? Then don’t just turn it off, we have already shown ourselves too weak to do that, get rid of it! Do you think that is too radical? That
is the seriousness with which Jesus is talking.
Paul
told Timothy to “flee youthful lusts” (2 Timothy 2:22) which is just what Joseph did when
Potiphar’s wife sought to seduce him, but Joseph did not flee because he was
not enticed by her, but because he loved God more (Genesis 39).
This
Lenten Season can we identify what are those things that entice us and cut off all those things due to which
our connection with God has been lost.
May God
help us. God Bless you.
All of Christ's teachings were primarily for spiritual upliftment/enlightenment. The Sermon on the Mount is not only paramount to achieve it but also needs higher contemplation to understand and follow it in word and spirit. However present Christianity has reduced it to a lofty goal set aside for the prominence of the Cross, forgetting the body of Christ is the bread of life through his teachings and instructions.
ReplyDeleteThe above sins are best explained by Yogananda Paramhansa- the hand being financial greed and corruption which makes Money the only master. As it is written no one can serve two masters, either it is money or it is God. The leg being the continuous busyness in our life to meet our worldly ends and not relying on our heavenly Father.This busyness keeps us away from not only communing with God but also fall easily into hands of sin. The eye is the primary sense organ for comprehending information. When the eye is given prominence which is the human intellect or intelligence - self prominence, ego takes over the higher truth that; It is only the almighty which is the doer. The eye which resembles human intellect measures success entirely based on life of flesh however the when success is measured based on spiritual discernment one truly understands success as achieving the consciousness in tune with God is the true success parameter of human existence. If not this life may be next or next...