If Your Right Eye Causes Your To Sin, Tear It Out And Throw It Away
by Deacon Bob Schnell
We don't see a lot of people walking around who have torn out their eyes and thrown them away. Nor do we see people who have cut off their right hand and thrown it away. Yet I think it is pretty much beyond dispute that our hands and our eyes can (and often do) cause us to sin. Today (Mt 5: 27-32) Jesus says that if our eyes or hands cause us to sin, we should literally remove them from our bodies, but no one (or almost no one) does that, despite what Jesus says. Why not? Do we not wish to obey our Lord? Are we unaware of His teaching? Of course the answer is that the Church has always read this passage as hyperbole, as emphasis for effect, as a way to tell us that we should act as if we didn't have eyes or hands when those things cause us to sin. But no one really thinks Jesus was advocating self-mutilation. He was talking about how aggressive we need to be in combating evil. Ok-- so when do we think that is what is going on, and when do we think that Jesus is being literal? In the next sentance after Jesus seems to be advocating the removal of body parts that cause sin, He talks about marrying a divorced person, and says that is committing adultery. Does He mean that literally, or is He just showing us how serious the sin is? After all, He says that someone who looks at a woman with lust "has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Sure looking with lust is a sin, but is it literally the same thing as committing adultery? Or is Jesus overstating to make a point? All that said, it does seem that when Jesus starts talking about divorce and adultery, He shifts gears a bit, and He means to be taken literally. After all, He does say elsewhere (Matthew 19:9 and Mark 10: 11-12) that marriage after divorce is adultery. So then what? If half of marriages, or so, end in divorce, and many of those people remarry, how are we to deal with them? Is remarriage after divorce somehow unforgiveable? Note in that regard that Jesus says that there is only one sin that is unforgiveable-- blasphemy against the Holy Spirit-- and all others "will be forgiven." (Mt 12:31). How to deal with this quandry? I ask the questions because this issue-- divorce and remarriage-- is one of those with which the Church struggles greatly these days. Pope Francis seems to be advocating that we look at individual cases and circumstances, and permit those who have divorced and remarried to be reconciled with the Church, at least under some circumstances. More traditional elements in the Church see things very differently. While I vote with Pope Francis on this one, I recognize that this issue is very personal and there are legitimate concerns on both side. Prayer and trust is in the Holy Spirit is perhaps the only answer. Give it some deep reflection. Where do you come out on it?