How can I cut myself off from sin? - Mk 9, 41-50
When speaking of the scandal of the "little ones", that is, the simple people, Jesus uses the verb that literally means "to cause sin", "to be a stumbling block". Faced with such a scandal, it portends a terrible punishment: drowning in the sea by tying up a heavy millstone. In the ancient world, it was the highest type of punishment. For it was believed that the spirits of drowned people forever hover over the waters in which they perished and will never be at peace.
In the face of such a cruel potential punishment, the action should be radical. Every opportunity for evil that may offend others should be avoided. Cutting off an arm, a leg or gouging out an eye should not be taken literally. Rather, it is a symbol of the difficulties we have to fight and grapple with on a daily basis. Anything that enslaves, leads to sin, takes away from love and causes scandal, must be rejected and avoided, that is, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of this life (cf. 1 Jn 2:16). In spiritual life, it is important to get to know yourself, your weaknesses, and defects that cause further sins and, consequently, hell.
Sin is man's greatest misfortune, especially when we infect others with it. But what do the words of the Lord Jesus mean in this context: "If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off"? Are we really to mutilate ourselves, to somehow destroy ourselves to avoid sin?
In order not to sin, we should not destroy ourselves, not hate ourselves. It is about cutting ourselves off from what binds us and prevents us from being ourselves. For sin is self-rejection. And we reject ourselves when we are attached to something, when we are driven by lust (greed). So, it is not a problem that we have hands or eyes, but that we want to take too much with our hands (and have for our own) and see too much with our eyes (losing sight of what is really worth seeing).
Today in the Gospel we hear a lot about giving anti-testimony. This is what becoming a cause of sin. Jesus uses a hyperbole here. Pretty shocking. Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.
In the eyes of Jesus, being a cause for sin is very reprehensible. Our example is therefore especially important. It has an important meaning. The young generation absorbs all the promoted attitudes. It is like a sponge. When we are a good example for them, praise us for it but when are we not an example? Then the search for patterns begins and these are not always positive.
So many people are looking for example. People - especially young people - are lost. Because the world sends a message from which flows the motto: "do what you want". All this is the fruit of numerous social and moral revolutions, that all this leaves an emptiness, it leads to an identity crisis questions about the meaning of life and often addictions, suicides etc. The words of Jesus resound extraordinarily strong today: Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.
Any ideology that leads to scandal that leads to deviations, which leads to the destruction of the smallest, weakest, socially excluded, deserves to be swallowed by the sea, never to be mentioned. And it does not matter if its mottos are lofty but if they lead to destruction, they should be truncated once and for all. Uproot radically. Our speech is to be: Yes, yes. No, no.
If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed than with two hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire. Here again Jesus uses hyperbole. After all, it is obvious that He will not persuade to act of masochism. Our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, and we must never allow ourselves to do anything: self-mutilation. It is about a radical, immediate attitude to take the side of good. So, it is about rejecting those spheres of life where sin may appear. Do not go to places where it is easy to succumb to temptation. Do not gaze with lust, do not sin in everyday activities. Our eyes are used to see but if we know that we sin most often with gaze - we know where we have to work on ourselves. To cutting an arm, a leg or an eye ... it is to reject a specific sin.
Jesus wants us to take a radical side for good, to such point, so that we would be ready to give up an important part of ourselves in the name of fighting sin. Do not delay turning back to the LORD, do not put it off day after day (Sir 5:7)
Until Tomorrow
fr. george