If Your Right Hand Offends – Cut It Off Matthew 5:30

Matthew shared how Jesus began to preach saying, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”, and He called Peter, Andrew, James and John to be His followers. As Matthew continued to share how Jesus' fame spread throughout Galilee, many others were gathered unto Him. Matthew continued by sharing how Jesus taught concerning the “beatitudes” of the “Kingdom of Heaven”, and He said His disciples were the “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world” and if their “righteousness” did not “exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees” they would, “in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus continued with the example, “You have heard that it was said by them of old time, You shall not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: ... whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, you fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has ought against you: Leave there your gift before the altar, and go your way; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles you are in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and you be cast into prison. Verily I say unto you, You shall by no means come out from there, till you have paid the uttermost farthing.” Jesus continued, “You have heard that it was said by them of old time, You shall not commit adultery. But I say unto you, That whosoever looks on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart. And if your right eye offend you, pluck it out, and cast it from you: for it is profitable for you that one of your members should perish, and not that your whole body should be cast into hell”, and in chapter five and verse thirty of his book, Matthew shared how Jesus told His disciples,“if your right hand offend you, cut it off” where we read:

And if your right hand offend you, cut it off, and cast it from you: for it is profitable for you that one of your members should perish, and not that your whole body should be cast into hell.

The verse reads, “And if your right hand offend you, cut it off, and cast it from you: ” Matthew began with the words, “and if” which means “and whether” “your right eye” which means “Jesus' disciples right hand” “offend you” or “puts a stumbling block or impediment in the way or entices to sin or fall away”, “cut it off” which means “rescind, hew and remove the hand”, “and cast it” or “and throw it away” “from you” which means “from the disciple”. Jesus employed a second example from the body that might cause “offense” to a person, and His solution was to “dismember it” and “throw it away”.

The verse continues, “for it is profitable for you that one of your members should perish, and not that your whole body should be cast into hell.” Matthew added the word, “for” which means “because, since and on account that” “it is profitable“ or “it is helpful and expedient” “for you” which means “for the disciple” “that one” which refers to “that a single or certain one” “of your members” which means “of the disciples' limbs or certain part of the body” “should perish” or “is destroyed, is abolished, put to an end to ruin and render useless”, “and not that your whole body” which refers to “and not all of the disciples' living corpse” “should be cast” or “would be thrown” “into hell” which means “into geenna which is the place of the future punishment”. Jesus repeated the idea that it would be better to have one “member” of the body “cut off” and thrown away rather than have the “entire body” “thrown” into “everlasting future punishment”.

When we meditate upon Matthew's words in this verse, we see how Jesus shared how important it is to keep away from sin within a person's life. His dramatic example of “cutting off” an offensive hand should make anyone reading these words know How He feels about sin. “Sin” separates a person from God, and whenever there is a “body part” that is makes a person violate God's law, Jesus said to “cut it off” or “pluck it out” and throw it away. The idea is to insure everyone hearing His words know how serious He is about sin, and only Jesus is able to “save” a person from the eternal destiny of “an eternal hell” that awaits all who refuse a relationship with Him.

Next time Jesus refers to how it was said, “whosoever shall put away his wife, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.