What Jesus you want me to mutilate myself?

In Matthew 5:27-30 Jesus preaching at the sermon on the mount teaches these words:

                “You have heard that it was said to those of old, “You shall not commit adultery.” But I say to you that whosoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell.”

                This is very strong language from our Lord. Is Jesus advocating self mutilation? No. Jesus is using a literary rhetorical device called Hyperbole. He is using exaggerated language to drive home his point. [1]Jesus is discussing the sin of adultery. This sin along with all sin is so dangerous and deadly, that it would be better to dismember any offending parts of our body, cast it away from us so that the whole body would not perish in hell on account of that offending body part. However, that will never work because the sin does not reside just in our flesh. It resides in the heart; the engine that drives our body.

Casting off a sinning member of your body will not get rid of sin.

                Matthew 15:18-20a Jesus speaking said, “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceeds evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things that defile a man…”

                The point Jesus was making is that what we do comes from our core being the heart, and the outflow of those behaviors mentioned above are made manifest through our flesh. So, in the final analysis our bodies are the victims of our corrupt minds.  The heart and body work together when doing good or evil. The heart conjures up the expression, and the body fleshes it (pun intended) out.

                Let’s examine one more account of hyperbole in the Bible.

 In John 6:47-66 we read:

            “⁴⁷ Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. ⁴⁸ I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹ Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. ⁵⁰ But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. ⁵¹ I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

⁵² Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

⁵³ Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. ⁵⁴ Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. ⁵⁵ For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. ⁵⁶ Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. ⁵⁷ Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. ⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” ⁵⁹ He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

⁶⁰ On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”

⁶¹ Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? ⁶² Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! ⁶³ The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life. ⁶⁴ Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. ⁶⁵ He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”

⁶⁶ From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him” (NIV).

Two things this text is not teaching is 1) cannibalism and 2) communion. Once again, Jesus is teaching by way of hyperbole. Although Jesus is using what his audience deems as crass language; eating his flesh and drinking his blood, He is using this analogy to express that He is the True Manna from heaven, i.e. the Bread of Life. Anyone that eats his flesh, and drinks his blood (not literally, but spiritually), that believes on Him will have eternal life. His audience should have grasped this truth, but they were spiritually dead (vs. 52).

That is why they turned their backs on the Lord (vs. 66).

Although the language is extreme which was Jesus intent, it drives the point home. He is the bread that we all must partake of in order to be saved.

Although we know Jesus primarily  taught by way of parables, hyperbole was another teaching method implored by our Lord.

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[1]  We all do this in everyday vernacular, e.g. “I’ve told you this a million times! I’m dying to go on vacation. This book weighs a ton! I’ve got a million things to do, et al.” All of these phrases are hyperbole.