IF YOUR EYE LEADS YOU TO SIN...

Matt 5:27-32

In the gospel of today, Jesus is using forceful language to urge his disciples to choose a life rooted in God. Is he exaggerating? Of course he is. He does not want the disciples to perish by choosing death through separation from His loving presence. Jesus is guiding His disciples to reach the goal in life that is worthy of any sacrifice. This is conformity to the will of God who desires our well-being.

But we shouldn’t take these words literally. Jesus is not saying that if your hands commit sin, you must cut it off and throw them away or if your eye commits sin tear it out and throw it away. What Jesus wanted his disciples to do in the best of their ability is to avoid committing sins. That which could lead one to sin must be shunned at all cost.

The Lord is not encouraging self-mutilation here.  He is rather calling for aggressive action, even taking action that hurts us. Most of time we keep trying half-measures, avoiding the necessary treatment because it will sting too much, and cost too much. Just as a medical doctor might remove some part of the body in order to preserve life, so we must be ready to part with anything that causes us to sin and which inevitably leads to spiritual death. This gospel reading compels us to ask: How shall we free ourselves from these unclean desires and defiling thoughts.

A story is told of a young girl who accepted Christ as her Savior and applied for membership in an organization in their parish. ‘Were you a sinner before you received the Lord Jesus into your life?” inquired the chairman. “Yes sir,” she replied. “Well are you still a sinner?” “To tell you the truth, I feel I’m a greater sinner than ever.” “Then what real change have you experienced?” ‘I don’t quite know how to explain it,” she said, “except that I used to be sinner running after sin, but now that I am saved, I’m a sinner running from sin!” she was accepted. And she proved by her consistent life that she was truly converted. Like this young girl, let us recognize that we are sinner, but we must run from sin. And may the Lord grant us the grace to be aggressive in dealing with the evil in our society today.