There was a sense of dread this week as we got into this part of the Sermon on the Mount. At the very least a kind of hesitation. What do we say about a passage that commands us to pluck our our eyeball or be satisfied with a bloody stump instead of hand? What do literalist do with this?? The punishments, becoming one-eyed and one-handed, by the way, come as a result of adultery or divorce. A whole heck of a lot of our population would be brutally disfigured if we followed this command. If we follow the pattern of taking Jesus’ teachings seriously but not literally, then what kind of metaphor can this teaching be?

We play around with this in the weekly podcast. I know I can’t divorce myself nor can I divorce myself from the rest of humanity. I can’t transfigure and I am stuck with me. The route we take, then, is how might we learn to be more committed to ourselves and thus to the whole of humanity? No part of us underestimates just how hard this is, and you are the one you are in a life long relationship with. This is a truth we can re-commit to everyday!

Thanks for joining the conversation and we’ll see you Sunday!