Of Hands, Feet and Eyes

Perhaps Matt.18:7 is not really transitional. Perhaps my own stumbling is a cause of someone else's stumbling. So instead of causing someone else to stumble, the instrument of my stumbling should be eliminated. Cutting off and plucking out body parts is not really a deterrent to sin though. Didn't Paul say, "If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit to decrees, such as 'Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!' (which all refer to things destined to perish with the using) in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence."  (Col.2:2-23) So is Jesus recommending something to us that has no value? Hardly. He knows that if you cut off a hand because it stole something, you will have opportunity to steal with the other one if stealing is where your heart is. It is that intangible heart that is the problem.

We hear the argument today, "It is not guns that kill; it is people who use guns who kill." The instrument of sin is not to blame. But, it is true that if a person does not have the instrument they cannot use it for the crime. But, there are no end to instruments. So what shall we say, "If your computer causes you to sin, turn it off or smash it?" Or, "if your car causes you to speed, sink it in a lake?" Jesus was merely making the point that Paul makes in Romans 6. There is a connection between the parts of our body and sin. "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves before God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God." (6:12-13)  1 Thess.5:23 says God will sanctify us body, soul and spirit, the whole man. Unlike the Gnostics who believed there was a distinction to be made between the body and the spirit, and that the body was evil but the spirit was good, and the first did not contaminate the second, Jesus connected body and heart.

The connection between fleshly desire and body parts is curious and deserves much study. The desire for well-being is often hard wired in our bodies. We feel, we remember, we react and each is rooted in our brains, and manifested in our various body parts. How the new body we are promised will be affected by sin is also curious (See 1 Cor.15). Will there be maimed or one-eyed folks in heaven? I don't think this is what Jesus is teaching us. I believe he is using some hyperbole to make his point. There are two things to be avoided that are connected and affected by what we do. The first is to avoid causing someone else to stumble, lose their footing, and perhaps lose their lives (zoe). The second is to avoid losing our own lives (zoe) in hell, which in the text is a fire that never goes out, (unquenchable-which is related to asbestos), and never destroys our worm feeding in it. We must keep ourselves out of the garbage heap called Gehenna. Regardless of our understanding of hell and eternal security, we have to admit that Jesus is painting a picture we want to avoid being in.

Maybe it is as simple as the children's song: Be careful little hands, feet, and eyes what you do, where you go, and what you see. The way is narrow that leads to life. May we not make it more narrow for others by cutting them off and causing them to stumble!