September 29, 2024

  TWENTY SIXTH ORDINARY SUNDAY OF THE YAER B! 

There is a joke about a man in the prison who was generously donating his body organs. He donated first one of his kidneys, then one of his eyes, then an arm. The warden became suspicious and growled: “Hey, you are escaping by installment!”

In today's gospel, Jesus talks about bodily mutilation. He tells us to “Anchor!” on sin, and all those that lead us to sin. His words are clear: Let people and let things that lead us to sin be done away with. 

Jesus, remind us that there is nothing more important in this life than heaven. Nothing should get in the way of us achieving that place He has prepared for us, and that means we need to make changes in our lives. So, as we stop and hear Jesus in this exaggerated phrase, of plucking out our eye and cutting off our hands and feet, we are invited to step back and ask, what are our eyes, what are our hands, what are our feet, what are those things that lead us into sin and how do we root them out of our lives. After all, God has given us everything, He has given us the gift of His love. He wants what is best for us, the challenge for us then is to root out sin; to root out those things that are not good for us, those things that hold us back from the relationship He wants for us.

Specially the eye and the heart are two brokers of sin, the two handmaids of sin. Also, there are instincts in us and certain parts of our physical constitution that minister us to sin. Our hands become instruments of sin according to what we touch and how we touch, in lust or greed or violence. Our feet are used for sin according to the places we have them take us. Our eyes become doorways for sins according to what we choose to look at or refuse to look at. 

 Remember, we have more sins than we have bodily parts. Besides, even if all offending parts were removed, our hearts and minds, are still the source of all sins. These sayings are actually about our attitudes, dispositions, and inclinations.  Jesus is inviting us to integrate our bodies into our following of Christ, so that our hands become instruments of compassion, healing and comfort, our feet help us to bring the Gospel to the world, and our eyes learn to see, and our mouth to speak the Truth, Goodness and Beauty all around us.

By these startling words about self-mutilation, Jesus also means that we must cut out of our lives all practices that keep us away from God and retain only those habits that draw us closer to God.  

If Jesus had been here in this modern time, He would have surely added these some modern parallels to the radical actions, “If your TV causes you to sin turn it off! If your computer causes you to sin: disconnect it! If your magazine subscription causes you to sin, cancel it! If your job position or power causes you to sin, resign! If your bank account causes you to sin, give it away.” In other words, absolutely nothing is worth jeopardizing our eternal life with Jesus Christ.

Jesus is setting before all disciples the one supreme goal in life that is worth any sacrifice.  That goal is everlasting union with God Himself beginning here, with our fidelity to following His will for our lives. God alone leads us to everlasting peace and happiness.  Just as a doctor might remove a limb or some part of the body in order to preserve the life of the whole body, so we must be ready to part with anything which causes us to sin and which leads us or others to spiritual death.  

The Gospel of today finally challenges us: “Decide!  Cut away anything that prevents us from a radical decision for Jesus Christ!  Decide for Christ! Let us  sincerely pray: Lord, we need you. Come into our lives. Set us free from sin by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lord, forgive us. Lord help us. Lord, have mercy on us. Remember, God’s love is greater than all our sins. God’s mercy is broader and deeper than we can imagine. Let us decide for Him.

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