“Hard Sayings of Jesus: Tear Out Your Own Eye” by Rev Cody Sandahl – January 31, 2016
Introduction
We are still in our series looking at the hard sayings of Jesus. Last week we talked about extending a helping hand, not a wagging finger of judgment when we see that someone is headed for disaster. This week we’re looking at a text that many people who don’t believe in God like to poke fun of. You’ve probably heard the quip that an “eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.” Well this text goes even further than that.
Matthew 5:27-29
27“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
You Don’t Need Eyes to Lust
Reading this text vividly reminded me of a short scene from the movie “Ray” where Jamie Foxx plays Ray Charles. Ray Charles went blind at the age of 6 – which is important given our text today. And in this scene, which takes place during Ray Charles’ meteoric rise in record sales and fame, he’s greeting women after the show. And as he shakes their hands, he feels their wrists above the hands as well. The first woman is young, slender, and beautiful. He invites her back with him. The next woman is also young but is overweight. Ray frowns and walks away. You see, he could tell by the wrists.
Now I tell you this because I believe it captures beyond a shadow of a doubt that a lack of working eyes won’t prevent you from lusting. In fact, take any body part you want, and getting rid of it won’t prevent you from sinning. I’m pretty sure you have to be brain-dead to not be able to sin, and even then I’m only about 50% sure.
So I’m pretty sure Jesus isn’t telling us to literally tear out our eyes. Of course, Jesus does have a pretty good “out” here. It’s only if your eye causes you to sin that you have to tear it out. I once tried to see what a neighbor had written on his test, and I don’t think the “my right eye caused me to look” trick would’ve worked with my teacher.
Will Over Act => Where’s Your “But?”
So what is Jesus getting at? What’s his angle? Well I believe he’s getting at two things.
First off, he’s showing us that God sees not only our actions but also the will, the intent, the desire behind our actions.
Now I am descended from some accomplished talkers. If I were making a list of all the people I wouldn’t want to be on the wrong side of a verbal sparring match, most of that list would be on my mom’s side of the family. My grandfather was a boxer in his youth, but we used to joke that we’d rather get in a fight with him because you’d heal but Grandma could say something that would hurt you for the rest of your life.
Given my genetic heritage, I pride myself on bottling up my inner Grandma. It has taken many years of effort and discipline, but I intentionally choose diplomacy over verbal daggers most of the time. But here’s the rub. Jesus is telling me I don’t get any credit with God for stopping my inner Grandma before it gets out of my mouth. Because it happens in my mind, God sees it for the sin that it is.
Another way to think about this is to ask, “Where’s your but?” Verbal daggers come to my mind BUT at least I don’t let them out very often. I looked at the other kid’s answer BUT I was just double checking my work. Where’s your but?
Do you have a but with money? Do you have a but with websites? Do you have a but, like me, with words? Do you have a but with attitude? Do you have a but with food? Do you have a but with relationships? Do you have a but with intimacy? Where’s your but?
In our text today, the phrase “causes you to sin” has the image of a mouse trap. What cheese lures you when no one’s looking? What net are you carefully stepping around so you can get the meat without springing the trap? Where are you using fancy footwork to avoid falling into “REAL” sin? Where’s your but?
God sees not only our actions, but also the will, the intent, the desire behind our actions. First point.
Our Great Need
As a result, the second point is that we are in dire need. We can, with great effort, change our behaviors and our actions. But I’ve never found a way to fully change my will, my intent, my desire, my impulse.
So when we, as part of our Reformed theological tradition, say that everything we do, everything we think, everything we feel, and even what we do from our best intentions is somehow tainted by our separation from God? This is what we mean. There’s always some part of us, even if no one else sees it, that shows we aren’t coming from a totally Godly place.
You can run, but you can’t hide from God. Well, actually, it’s not that easy to run from God either. So you can’t run, nor can you hide.
So when we think, “I can handle this on my own.” When we think, “This is so small God won’t care.” When we think, “I do so many good things, this won’t get in my way.” That’s when Jesus reminds us that regardless of what other people say, HE says that our innermost thoughts and attitudes matter to God just as much as the actions. Our external goodness won’t paper over our internal issues. No amount of discipline will change our impulses.
I often wonder how the original hearers responded to this. I mean, we know the rest of the story. We know that Jesus died and rose again because, as Jesus says here, we are incapable of wiping out our internal sin. We know that we are forgiven. We know that we are adopted in God’s family. But when the Sermon on the Mount first went live, they didn’t know that. They thought they were saved by being descended from Abraham. They thought they were saved by obeying the outward requirements of the Law. But here goes Jesus blowing that out of the water.
For us, this is a message of hope. We’ll never fix everything in our lives and in our minds and in our hearts, but we’re saved by grace thru faith in Jesus Christ. The pressure’s off if we turn it over to Jesus. But I doubt they heard this as a message of hope at the time. But let me ask you – does this sound like a message of hope to you? You KNOW in your mind that the pressure’s off, but is that REAL for you? Or are you still trying to earn your own salvation? [LONG PAUSE]
Emptying vs Filling
I think there’s one other important point to add to what Jesus is saying here. Because this particular text makes it sound like following Jesus is about getting rid of stuff in your life. Get rid of anything that causes you to sin – which is, you know, just about everything. Get rid of any internal attitudes that can lead you away from God – which is, you know, just about all of them. So is Jesus just telling us to be Zen Buddhist here and have no attachments, no feelings, no desires, no nothing?
I don’t think so.
In fact, in my conversations with Buddhists I would say this is our biggest place of divergence. Because, as we see in our text, Jesus tells us to get rid of a lot – lay down our pride, lay down our earthly attachments where moth and rust destroy. But he also says to TAKE UP. Take up our cross and follow him. Take up the mind of Christ. We empty out, just like many Buddhists. But then we fill up with the Spirit of Christ – that filling is where we’re very different.
Later on in the Gospel of Matthew in chapter 12 Jesus says that when a demon leaves a person it wanders around for a while before returning to the person it left. And then it finds the house unoccupied, picked up, and cleaned, so it finds seven other spirits to move in with it. The point is that you can’t just empty out. Some new sin will always fill the void.
So don’t leave the house unoccupied. Don’t leave your heart with a void. Fill it with the spirit of Christ. You can only STOP doing something for so long. REPLACE it with something better.
Summary
Sisters and brothers, we all have our “buts.” Maybe you have a “but” with money, or websites, or relationships, or food. We all have ways that we justify and minimize our separation from God. But Jesus says God cares about our “buts.”
Luckily for us, the pressure is off because Jesus accepts us despite our “buts.” But the way forward isn’t to ignore those parts of our lives or try to fix it with sheer willpower. It’s to fill that part of our lives with something better – with the Spirit of Christ.
Empty out…but then fill up with Christ.
To close today, I’m going to give us one minute – one FULL minute – of silence for us to give over our “buts” to Christ. And then I’m going to prompt us for another minute – another FULL minute – of silence as we ask Christ to fill those parts of our lives with his spirit instead. Will you bow with me?