seasons of christian spirituality: volume III Today’s reading contains such harsh words. We wonder how gentle Jesus meek and mild could ever get away with making such demands, but he did. He often spoke harshly to his opponents, just as he often gave hard instruction to his adherents. None, though, is as harsh as this. A Michigan State trooper, who used to attend our church, pulled a man over for speeding one day. That man had only one hand, having hacked the other one off at the wrist because he could not stop masturbating and wanted to follow Jesus more faithfully. Every time I read this piece of the Bible, I wish I had been this man’s pastor before he had done what he did, just as I pray to God that I am not required to be his pastor in the future. I’m not sure I would have the heart to tell him that he misunderstood Christ’s words ( A for effort, though, right?). Jesus means something less gruesome and yet more difficult, I think, than what our half-handed friend took him to mean. I suppose Jesus would have (at least!) applauded this man’s zeal, and if the demand was made hyperbolically, then I’m sure it still counts when taken literally. But we know Jesus wasn’t speaking literally because none of his earliest friends and followers cut off their arms or eyes or tongues. They were there when he said these harsh things, and they could easily have asked him for clarification. Furthermore, if he did mean for the words to be taken literally, he undoubtedly would have repeated them, and scolded his followers for their failure to understand and comply with his teachings on the Kingdom (as he did in many other situations). No, Jesus meant these words figuratively. As was his way, he often spoke of one thing while intending another meaning entirely. He used parables, similes, and metaphors. When he spoke of seeds, he meant souls. When he talked about fish, he really meant people. When he spoke about cutting out your eye, he really meant “the way you see the world.” If the way you see the world causes you to sin, then gouge it out. Change the way you see things. Ah! That’s so much easier, isn’t it?
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