By Eddie Lombard
43 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell,where the fire never goes out. 45 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. 47 And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, 48 where
“‘their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’
Mark 9:42-48-NIV
I would imagine some people have likened our “new normal” to hell on earth. The world feels like it is spinning out of control and no one really has any good answers as to how to stop it. Can things get any worse? Jesus in our passage Mark 9:42-50 answers: ‘most definitely!’. Sin that has not been dealt with will get you thrown into hell where the “worm does not die and the fire is never quenched” vs 48. Sin and Hell are probably two of the most scorned words in modern western culture. Even Christians have lost confidence in the idea of sin and hell but for Jesus they are essential ideas to understand in order to enter His Kingdom.
In the preceding verses of Mark 9, Jesus’ disciples have been concerned with their own greatness. Jesus in our passage shows them that there is something much more important they should concern themselves with — sin and the final judgment of sin. Jesus came to deal with man’s sin by dying a substitutionary death on the cross for our sin. If the disciples. and each one of us, do not repent and turn form our sin – only hell awaits us.
We see the seriousness with which Jesus takes sin by His almost barbaric description of cutting off your hand or plucking out your eye or anything that causes you to sin. The idea here is to see the lesser pain of losing hand, foot or eye compared to the loss of eternal life. Hell is not just an idea in Jesus’ mind, it is a reality for Him. Jesus came to suffer hell in our place, to take the wrath of God in our place so we did not have to bear it. Jesus was separated from His Father so that we did not have to be. Sin and Hell are so serious that Jesus uses this vivid imagery to ensure that we understand the dangers of hell.
“It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell” vs 47
What has the “new normal” revealed of your priority’s? Do your priority’s reveal you living just for this world and all it can offer or will you heed Jesus’ warning to live in this world with your eyes set on etern