tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7008813786806083758.post8827628465089386828..comments2023-02-25T05:42:16.087-08:00Comments on Patria Bolivariana: "If Thine Eye Offend Thee": Reflections on this week's reading, continuedUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7008813786806083758.post-3341086434972595892011-09-03T14:09:04.947-07:002011-09-03T14:09:04.947-07:00My take on that passage (and the similar passages ...My take on that passage (and the similar passages in Matthew 5 and 18) has been consistent since childhood: this Jesus guy wasn't afraid to be snarky to get a point across, was he?<br /><br />A lot of "meaningful" interpretations have grown up around this passage over the millenia, and most of them arise because there is, or has been, no allowance for snark. I grew up with the majestic resonance of the KJV, and (perhaps because it was a part of my "native tongue" from early exposure) could read a bit of sarcasm, even cynicism, into the passage there, but I've been able to find that tone consistently in the Greek and in all of the reasonable (not just word-substitution) translations I've ever read. All that's missing is the "header sentence", that one thing that would have blown the punchline, so to speak, making the passage accessible to even the most serious, humorless and self-righteous (and they are, by the way, the ones to whom the passage is directly addressed):<br /><br />"Are you so very sure that you've eliminated every trace of lust, greed, cruelty, etc., from your heart, mind and soul?"<br /><br />To those who can convince themselves that they have entered a state of absolute purity of thought and conscience, any remaining problems must belong to the offending parts. You say you've done away with lust, yet your eyes continue to check out the hotties? Gotta be the eyes, then. You've put greed and laziness away for good, but your hands keep on shoplifting? It's the hands -- get rid of them.<br /><br />The point of the passage, as far as I can tell, is to accept your failings and weaknesses as your own. That doesn't mean embracing them; it means that there will probably always be work to do. If you ever feel that you've reached a point of spiritual perfection, you're kidding yourself. It would literally mean that anything "you" seemed to be doing, thinking or feeling that was not absolutely loving, charitable, forgiving, and so forth, was an externality beyond your control, the fault of the organ or appendage that committed or experienced the anomoly without the cooperation or complicity of your perfected self. Better to have it off, then, than to have it drag your innocent soul into torment for crimes it didn't commit. Obviously, that's ridiculous.<br /><br />In essence and meaning, this passage is identical to the dust-mote-and-beam passage in Luke 6, although nobody has ever read "we must carry out an anti-heretical crusade on this account" into that particular passage.<br /><br />As long as we recognise our shortcomings and are willing to try to overcome them, there is hope. The moment we believe that we have done all there is to do, we are lost. And that remains true whether or not we believe in eternal torment, since it also affects us in the here and now. If you believe that it is proper to the human condition to be good, to be loving, to help one another through this life, then there is no room for the elevation of self above others. We are, all of us, human, and none of us are perfect.Stan Rogershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13819463953609361042noreply@blogger.com