Matthew 5:27-30

Matthew 5:27-30

You heard that it was being said, “Do not commit adultery.”  But I say to you all that everyone who looks at a woman in order to lust after her was already committing adultery with her in his heart.  If your right eye becomes bait in a trap, remove it from its place and cast it away from you.  For it is far more advantageous for you in order that one of the members of your body be lost and your whole body not be thrown into Hell.  And if your right hand becomes bait in a trap, cut it off and cast it away from you.  For it is far more advantageous for you in order that one of the members of your body be lost and your whole body to not go away into Hell.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Once more we hear Jesus speak about making the Law more difficult.  It is one thing to never have an adulterous affair.  But it is another thing entirely to never have a lustful thought.  So let’s talk about lust.  Most of us think of list and associate it with sex.  But that’s not true.  Lust is the desire to possess something that isn’t yours.  Therefore, when I lust sexually, I literally desire to do things with someone about whom I do not possess the right to have.  The issue here is two-fold.  It is absolutely an issue of human sexuality and preserving sex as an act of procreation best done within the support that marriage brings.  But it is also an argument against possession.  When I lust, I forget about the rights of other people.  I forget about the rights of the person after whom I’m lusting.  When I lust, I forget about the rights of the spouse (or future spouse).  This second part also absolutely applies to contexts outside of sexuality.  Shoplifting is nothing more than lusting after material possession.  Gluttony is nothing more than lusting after food.  Human beings can lust after anything; anything can become the apple of our eye.  We can lust after anything that we do not have the right to possess (or the right to possess an unhealthy quantity).

How big of a problem is sexuality in the world around you?  Do you think most of the world views sexuality as a potentially huge source of problem?  What is the basis for your thinking?

By the way, the Greek word here – and used elsewhere for adultery – is a judgment on the married person.  Adultery is sex between one or two people who are married to someone else.  Two people who are not married to anyone who have sex outside of marriage are guilty of fornication, not adultery.

Second Thought:

In talking about the eye, Jesus uses a really neat Greek word.  The word is skandalidzo (σκανδαλίζω).  If you pronounce that word, you hear the word scandal.  That Greek word literally is the word for the stick of bait used in a trap for animals.  If you think about it, isn’t that what a scandal is?  Isn’t a scandal when you fall into a trap and your sinfulness is discovered?  So what is Jesus saying here?  He is saying that our very thoughts and means for using our body can be bait into the trap of sin.  My eyes are a great thing.  But if I use my eyes to view things that lead me away from God, then my eyes become bait in the very trap of sin!  For the record, all of this applies to Jesus’ reference to the hand, too.  Jesus is telling us that our sinfulness is deeply rooted into the very things we think necessary for life.  Most of us couldn’t live without our eyes or our hands.  So what is Jesus’ point?  The fight against sin is going to be fought all the way to our core.  If we are going to fight against sin and root it out, we need to realize that we are going to be struggling against our very nature.  It is going to be a deeply rooted battle within us.  Our eyes and our hands are important to our life and they are also the main instruments of sin.

When do your eyes and hands cause you to sin the most?  How do you fight this fight?  Do you find that simply telling yourselves not to think such thoughts or do such deeds actually works? 

Third Thought:

With respect to both eye and hand, Jesus makes an interesting claim at the end of the analogy.  It is better for you to lose a single member of your body than for all of it to be thrown into Hell.  Jesus is talking about perspective.  We all have a choice.  We can absolutely trade small insignificant moments of fleeting pleasure and forfeit our eternal life with God.  Or we can forfeit those small moments of insignificant pleasure and receive eternal life with God.  From the logical perspective the choice is really simple!  But I will be the first to acknowledge that this choice is easier said than done.  In the moment, the small insignificant fleeting pleasure doesn’t seem so insignificant and fleeting.  But it truly is.  Life is best lived in perspective.  We will fight sin best not by telling ourselves to not do them but rather by broadening our perspective.  If we keep life in true perspective of the eternal, our choices will inevitably get better.

Is your perspective eternal?  What can you give up and put away because your perspective should be on the eternal?

Passage for Tomorrow: Matthew 5:31-32