I’m in the middle of writing a theology of the body and a saying of Jesus came to my mind that seems to be putting the cost of spiritual warfare on the human body. It seems to say that if we want spiritual victory in our lives then we can expect that it will come at a great cost to our bodies. Let’s take a look.
“Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.” Matthew 18:7-9 ESV
This passage is interesting because this particular teaching of Jesus is recorded twice in the book of Matthew. Once in the Sermon on the Mount in chapter 5 as a “you have heard it said,” and once after a brief conversation about who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. The first instance is the classic “you have heard it said that you shall not commit adultery,” to which of course Jesus says that lust is the seed of adultery and in other passages he talks about hatred being the seed of murder in the same way.
The illustration of mangling one’s body is an effective one, but the wise will look beyond the illustration to the heart of the message. The message is not that the body is the collateral cost of righteousness but what we deem to be on par with the body in necessity is often the cost of righteousness. Jesus uses three examples. The hand, the foot and the eye. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Jesus heals all three ailments in his ministry and we are told about each of them.
A hand is necessary in craft, a foot is necessary in mobility and an eye is necessary in perception. Physically speaking it isn’t difficult to understand the necessity of a body that functions well, but Jesus may be making several points with this teaching. I will cover three of them here. The first we have already said; that whatever you deem to be as essential to your existence as your able-bodied-ness will be called upon by God to be sacrificed. Think Abraham walking up the mountain to sacrifice Isaac1—God did not ask this of Abraham because Isaac had to somehow transcend his body, but because Abraham had to understand that as necessary as he thought Isaac was in the fulfilment of God’s promise of a seed through which he would become the Father of Nations, the value of the promise lay in God and not in Isaac.
Let’s walk carefully here. God’s promises rest in Godself alone and it should not be seen as an indictment on Ishmael or Isaac that they were not seen as indispensable by God to the work of giving Abraham descendants. Sticking with the book of Matthew, in chapter 3, John the Baptiser mocks the religious leaders who claim with pride that they are are descendants of Abraham. After delivering the famous brood of vipers comment he says “do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.”2 Again, we shouldn’t think badly of Abraham’s sons because they are replaceable and by a pile of stones, no less. Both were blessed by God and became fathers of nations respectively. Their involvement was purely on the basis of bearing fruit; in this case, children—by doing what they were bound to do, by their very nature they took part in the fulfilment of God’s promises.
Isaac was chosen by God to be the heir that would one day produce the Christ. This is not because Sarah was superior to Hagar nor Isaac to Ishmael. Neither does this mean that all other nations were wasting their time being fruitful and multiplying over the face of the earth as God intended. It didn’t bother God to give Ishmael the same exact promise that was coming to Isaac—not one bit. Even further down the line when Isaac produces Esau and Jacob and God again chooses the second born son to bear the promise of a seed, Esau goes on to be incredibly prosperous and father the nation of Edom to whom the people of Israel are held responsible as their brothers.3 All the while the value of God’s plan resides in Godself. There is no room for pride on behalf of the “chosen people”. Then something truly strange happens. God stops choosing after Jacob and Esau, Jacob’s 12 sons go on to Father the 12 tribes of Israel to whom God gives the land of Canaan and creates a people for Godself. God chooses Jacob’s son Judah to be the line from whom the Christ will come but the other sons don’t go their separate ways like Ishmael and Esau. We don’t get pronouncements of God’s love or hatred over Judah or against his brothers. They simply exist and are fruitful and multiply.
All of this to say that the only indispensable one, and therefore, the only truly desirable one is God. Temptation comes when we claim that this or that one is indispensable—irreplaceable—irresistible. King David had no less than 7 wives before laying eyes on Bathsheba whom he decided was not worth living without and thus his nefarious acquisition plan was implemented.
Jesus pronounces woe over the likes of Bathsheba because she had become the epicentre of David’s lust and the embodiment of everything he desired. “Woe to the one by whom temptation comes”—not because they themselves are sinful but because of the toll that embodying desire takes on our human bodies. Bathsheba unwillingly became the embodiment of David’s desire and was robbed of her husband to murder and robbed of her son as she gave birth to death. It is not shame that Jesus pronounces over those by whom temptation comes, but pity. Pity because they were not designed to embody desire; pity because desire gives birth to death, pity because they are merely respondents to another’s deadly desires.
The first point Jesus makes is that whatever we claim to be indispensable will be called upon to be dispended. The second point Jesus makes is that those who are without what is claimed to be indispensable are not to worry that God has somehow abandoned them although they are most to be pitied.
Hagar became the embodiment of Abraham and Sarah’s desire for children. Tamar became the embodiment of Absalom’s desire. The rock became the embodiment of Moses’ desire. The snake on a poll become the embodiment of Israel’s desire. Everything that becomes the embodiment of another’s desire is damaged or destroyed—so, along with Jesus we say woe to them.
Lastly Jesus makes the point that though we don’t know how we will go on without our heart’s desire, we must—out of a deep love we must let go of our lives and desires and ambitions because of the abject damage we are causing to those we supposedly love by making them the embodiment of our desires.
3 Suggested Applications
Release the Desire to be Indispensable
We’ve been talking about this recently. When we live according to what is, we suddenly find that we no longer desire things or people or positions in the way we once desired them. They come and go and we reconnect when possible and enjoy their presence but don’t feel as if their going is the death knell of our relationship.
This non-anxious presence allows us not to overstay our welcome or to live in a sense of anxiety that we will never meet again. It gives us peace to listen knowing that there’s a good chance that they would love to hear our voice on a matter if we only give them the time to voice their concerns. We can laugh with them knowing that soon it may be time to cry with them and both will have been time well spent. They become our blessedly dispensable friends who transcend desirable use and become truly indispensable.Release the Desire to Love and be Loved
Remember Jesus’ pronouncement? It isn’t healthy to be the one personified as indispensable anymore than it is healthy to be the one projecting and conflating our desires on people. We often call this love, but it is merely desire doing its destructive obsessive work.
Release the Desire of Your Heart
Jesus was never done teaching that if we would save our lives we must lose them—this above anything applies to the desires of our hearts. Psalm 37:4 says, “delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart”. (ESV)
It sounds hokey; like we should probably discount this one as “your desires will change and so what God is really giving you is the desires of His heart!”
But Jesus himself says seek first the kingdom and God’s righteousness and all these things will be added unto you—the “all these things,” Jesus refers to are primary interfacial things; safety, legitimacy and provision which are core desires of our hearts that we most often compromise ourselves over. These all come from God alone, and so when we strive after them in our own power we end losing our lives for trying to save them.
Gen 22:1-19
Matthew 3:9 ESV
Deuteronomy 23:7