Chop off your hand?! Was Jesus Serious?!?

@Come fly with me.. lol

@woo k, you check and answer again :)

@Steven, Skunky and Just saying, well no comment for now, my comment would be the answer to the puzzle :)

@gregory, nope. it's not a metaphor. :)

It is inconceivable that He would play with words for the crude purpose of ramming home a lesson. When Jesus spoke in parables He did so to conceal truths, not to stretch them (Mt 13:13). In any case, the passage above is not part of a parable. The context is the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus has just been speaking about anger and lust. His language is plain because the issues are serious. There is nothing metaphorical about His choice of words.

Preachers sometimes exaggerate to make a point but Jesus always meant what He said and said what He meant. He is Truth personified.

=====answer to the puzzle=====

He’s preaching law on steroids not so that you will try to keep it but so that you will give up pretending you are.

If you’re broken and hurting you’ll get grace, but if you’re self-righteous and religious you’ll get law. A self-righteous person is one who thinks he can impress God with his religious performance. The only language he understands is law. He says, “all these commands I have kept from my youth, what else do I lack?” And Jesus responds, “Okay, you asked for it, here it is – receive some more law.”

The law is not a standard to live up to, but a mirror that reveals our faults. The law was not given to help you overcome sin, but to help sin overcome you (Rms 7:8-9). In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus was preaching to people who thought they would be judged righteous if they kept the law. But instead of being silenced by their inability to do so, they had watered it down making it easier to keep.

In Matthew 23 Jesus gives some specific example

of how the Pharisees had diluted the law, but in Matthew 5 He sets about raising the standard of the law to its proper level. In other words, He was polishing the mirror.

Why did Jesus do this? Why did our gracious king spend so much time preaching the law? Because some people will never appreciate the good news until they’ve heard the bad news, which is this:

“Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt 5:20)

The law is holy, righteous and good, but try to live by it and it will condemn and kill you (2 Cor 3:6,9). The purpose of the law is to bring man to the end of himself and reveal his need for a Savior (Gal 3:24). If you are self-righteous, you will never appreciate Jesus until the law has done its job and plowed the pride out of your smug little heart. I’m a decent person, you say. I’ve never killed or committed adultery. Not good enough, says Jesus. God knows your heart. If you

If you’ve entertained murderous or lustful thoughts you’ve as good as done it. You’re in danger of hell-fire. This is a serious business, says Jesus. If you persist in this pathetic course of self-reliance, you had better be prepared to go the whole way even if that means sacrificing an eye and a hand

And knowing there would be some religious wackos out there who might miss the point and actually go to such extremes, Jesus hits them with this:

“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Mt 5:48)

God expects perfection and nothing less. If you’re not perfect, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, you’re in serious trouble. Now here’s the good news:

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” (Mt 5:17)

Jesus fulfilled all of the requirements of the law on your behalf. You are not perfect, but thank God you have a perfect high priest!

“Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God

“Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. Such a high priest meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.” (Heb 7:25-26)

Jesus was born under the law and fulfilled the law to redeem those under the law so that we might receive the full rights of sons (Gal 4:4-5). Because of what Jesus has done we are no longer under the law but the grace of God (Rms 6:5). The good news is that His righteousness far surpasses the righteousness of the Pharisees and He offers it to you as a free gift (Rm 1:17).