Mark 9:42ff is one of the passages which terrified me during my childhood. Contained within this section is Jesus' instructions, "If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out." While aware that sin came into my life by many differing paths, I was pretty sure that my eyes were one of them.
Jesus says the same thing about feet and hands. "If they cause you to sin, cut them off."
I remember a sermon in which the preacher marveled that there weren't whole communities of one-eye, one-handed folks, hoping around on one foot.
It frightened me to think that God might be so severe as to insist that I pluck out one of my eyes. It frightened me more to realize that I was unwilling to remove sins entry point into my life. Was I more interested in living with two eyes, than "entering the kingdom" with one?
There is a great reluctance to making change in our lives, even when we know that the part which needs changing is leading us away from God and away form God's kingdom.
How is sin invited into your life? Is through particular friends? Is it associated with behavioral patterns? How prepared are you to "pluck out" those parts of your lifestyle which move you away from God and God's hope for you?
I don't believe that Jesus wants us to hop around on one foot, having only one hand to keep our balance, and only one eye to see and avoid the pitfalls. But I do understand his hope that we would change our lives and our lifestyles in order to avoid that would lead us, and those who believe in him, away from the Kingdom.
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