Jesus said to his disciples:
“You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery.
But I say to you,
everyone who looks at a woman with lust
has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
If your right eye causes you to sin,
tear it out and throw it away.
It is better for you to lose one of your members
than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna.
And if your right hand causes you to sin,
cut it off and throw it away.
It is better for you to lose one of your members
than to have your whole body go into Gehenna.
“It was also said,
Whoever divorces his wife must give her a bill of divorce.
But I say to you,
whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful)
causes her to commit adultery,
and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”
Should the bible be read literally or metaphorically? Many christians will fight very hard on both sides of this question. But the answer is not exactly obvious, and like most things in the catholic faith, it is “both, and…” Meaning both apply in different ways and at different times. We have to read what is happening in the passages before for and after any particular reading. When we do this, and also study what was happening to the people in and around the time of the passage we will come to understand more fully the truth about what Jesus is trying to teach us.
In today’s reading, the Lord Jesus has already gathered his first disciples. He is healing multitudes of people and He is teaching all those that are flocking to Him about God’s law and what is required of them to come into the kingdom. Jesus is using a technique here that the jewish people were familiar with. In temple the rabbi would read from the scrolls and then would sit down and teach about the law and what the reading meant. Rabbi’s would often use this technique of “exaggerating for the sake of emphasis,” in order to teach the importance of the message being given.
It is abundantly clear that today’s message is meant to be taken symbolically, for if we all followed this teaching to the letter, the world be left deaf and blind. And we can know for certain that a good and loving God does not want this, and I can prove it. Jesus clearly taught us in another passage that if we teach and live by the law of “an eye for an eye,” then the whole world will be left blind. God does not and cannot contradict Himself, so we can conclude that this is metaphor, and we can rest assured that Jesus clearly does not want all of His beloved sons and daughters to be rendered blind and mute.
And to further the explanation, if you contrast today’s teaching with that of John 6 you can see the difference between when He teaches metaphorically vs. literally. In John 6 where the lord clearly says, “unless you eat my body, and drink my blood, you cannot have eternal life.” Jesus was not using metaphor in this instance. He said it plainly, He was challenged directly, and He did not back down, in-fact he doubled and tripled down on His previous statement. And as a result many of His followers left Him, and He neither said nor did anything to stop them from leaving.
Nevertheless, today’s reading has an important message for us to understand even today. It shows us that it is not the big temptations of this world, like lust and pride, and anger, that cause us to sin. But it is actually the little things along the way, the small sins that weaken us and lead us to the big sin. It is like the bull that is charging matador. It is not a single cut of the sword that kills the bull. It is the many small slashes along the way that weaken the bull to the point where it simply just lays down, and the matador casually walks up and delivers the final “coup de gras.”
Jesus taught in another reading that “The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones; and the person who is dishonest in very small matters is also dishonest in great ones.” So we must guard ourselves at all times to be on the look out for the little sins that soften our defenses and weaken us against the big ones. And we do that by being faithful in the small things. That means that you need to devote time to pray the rosary every day, go to mass every week, do good and resist evil. Living this way will bring you into God’s kingdom, and it will make the world a better place along the way. This is our call, how will you answer.
