Four hard-to-swallow teachings of Christ in the Gospel of Matthew.
Jesus didn’t mince words, in fact, that’s part of what got him in such hot water with the religious establishment of the time. So I went through the Gospel of Matthew and picked out four teachings from Christ that I find particularly hard. These are not ranked in any particular order, and they are by no means the only teachings that I struggle with, but they all provide an interesting perspective on how we should live, and are definitely the sort of things that people like myself struggle with.
Listicles- or list articles- you know them, you love them. Or at least you do if your income is based on ad revenue. Mine isn’t, but it so happens that it is a great format if you want to do a quick tour of a subject and don’t quite have a full post for each stop yet.
That is what you’re getting today! Jesus didn’t mince words, in fact, that’s part of what got him in such hot water with the religious establishment of the time. So I went through the Gospel of Matthew and picked out four teachings from Christ that I find particularly hard. These are not ranked in any particular order, and they are by no means the only teachings that I struggle with, but they all provide an interesting perspective on how we should live, and are definitely the sort of things that people like myself struggle with. Let’s get to it!
Number 1: Matthew 18:8-9 | He wants to cut what off?!
Mt 18:8-9 8 “If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life maimed or lame than to have two hands or two feet and to be thrown into the eternal fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into the hell[a] of fire.
Count Dooku was really just trying to help Anakin stop sinning!
In a previous article, I mentioned sacrificing and suffering as part of the Christian life. This definitely embraces that mindset. Now, you might be thinking the same thing that I or others who heard him say this thought, “Do I really have to remove body parts?” No. self-mutilation is clearly forbidden in scripture. In fact, it may be worthwhile at some point for me to do an article on how we are supposed to treat our bodies.
I think the lesson here is twofold, or at least has two applications. First, what we should take away from this is that if we have something that causes us to sin in our lives, either by causing us undue distress that drives us to a vice or by introducing temptation that we wouldn’t otherwise be so exposed to, we should remove it. This could be stuff like Facebook, or other social media. Maybe it’s a discord with an NSFW channel. Perhaps when we drink, we allow ourselves to do something we wouldn’t do otherwise. Regardless, the main thrust that can be taken away is that if something leads us to sin, we need to take steps to remove it from our lives.
The other message that I would think applies here is that when you think about it, it isn’t our hands, eyes, or any other appendage that makes us sin. The body isn’t a sinful thing- it was given to us by our creator. What causes us to sin is our sinful nature, inherited from the fall of man. The way I see it, a lesson we can take from this is that we need to submit our will to God, and do our best to follow what he wants for our lives. Sure, we aren’t giving up our free will in doing this, or cutting out our brains- but we are doing our best to cast off our desire to pursue the world in favor of pursuing God.
Number 2: Matthew 6:24 | Split loyalties.
“24 No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.[x]”
On the surface, this one isn’t so bad. Obviously, God should come first, right? We all agree on that in theory, at least. I don’t know any practicing christians who don’t agree that God is supposed to be number 1 in our lives. However, you and I both know that every one of us struggles with that. We get pulled into work stuff, or our family life is hectic. Sometimes we have friends who don’t run on the same operating system and we can feel pressured (directly or indirectly) to do what they are doing for the sake of fitting in or from the dreaded fear of missing out (FOMO, as the kids call it).
The red bit is you. Either one side will win, or you’ll snap. Snapping is no fun, trust me!
That’s what makes this teaching so hard. It is very difficult to put something that is not readily visible or tangible above something that is right in front of you. This can be compounded when putting God first leads you to making some sort of sacrifice or otherwise results in you enduring hardship.
Even something as Godly as being a good spouse can cause this strain. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 7 about how being married could result in a man having to balance his dedication to his wife and family with his devotion to doing God’s work. This is a part of why the Catholic Church adopted the discipline of celibacy for priests.
I realize that I haven’t dug much into the wealth part of this equation, and that is partially because there’s more here than money, and also because the next teaching seems the better place to discuss it. Suffice it to say that the way I would apply this teaching is to regularly check myself to make sure that I am not letting distractions of my everyday life get between me and God.
Number 3: Matthew 19:23-24 | Threading (or Camel-ing) the needle.
23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
Some real dromedary drama! Something doesn’t add up here.
I don’t think Christ was out to body-shame camels here, but I sure wouldn’t appreciate being a metric for how hard to fit through an opening something is. We live in a consumer-focused and mostly capitalistic society. I don’t personally consider that a terrible thing. However, it has led us to a place where we put way too much value on wealth. This was a problem in the first century, as well. Do I believe that people who are wealthy are barred from heaven? No. But I do think that people who hear this teaching and still hoard their wealth are in grave error.
It can be very difficult for us living in the world today to want to let go of things. We’ve largely been taught by society that our success is determined by how many digits we have on our salary. This is of course, why I chose to start a blog- writing articles on the internet is immeasurably lucrative.
How would I apply this? I just need to make sure that my needs are met and that I can take care of myself and those around me. If I am blessed materially, I need to remember that ultimately all I have, and all that I am belongs to Christ. So at the end of the day, if He calls me to give it up in some way, I have to be ready and willing to do that.
Number 4: Matthew 19:9 | The parting of ways.
Mt 19:9 9 And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another commits adultery.”[a]
We live in a pretty divorce heavy society. Something like 50% of marriages end in divorce now, though I invite you to check the statistics for yourself. Regardless of what the statistics are, marriage and relationships in general are treated these days as much more disposable than they were meant to be. This was a problem for the people of antiquity as well. Lest we forget that the woman at the well had been married quite a few times before she met our Lord.
Honestly, I didn’t find any images that I could write something funny alongside. Have some walruses.
Besides, is divorce a bad thing? If you don’t want to be with someone, move on- right? My own parents have divorced and remarried several times. I love the people that have come into my life because of that, and I even owe my existence to a second marriage. That said, perhaps we shouldn’t be entering into marriage so lightly. Obviously, nothing in life is certain, but it is critical that we thoughtfully and prayerfully enter into marriage. Will that always prevent bad things from happening? No. But it can help ensure that our unions are more secure. Marriage teaches us about our union with God- and that union is something that is unbreakable. So when we treat it as something that can be tossed away, we’re not only failing to keep our vows as spouses- we’re closing ourselves off to something that was given to us by our Creator.
As far as how I would apply this one- I plan on just getting married once, and I plan on going about it as carefully and prayerfully as I can. And if, God forbid, I do have to get a divorce, I will have exhausted every option before coming to that.
I want to set a moment aside and say something clearly. If you have been through divorce, that doesn’t make you any more broken, or less valuable than anyone else. You have done what you felt was right with the gifts at your disposal at the time. No one will ever have the right to judge you on that or hold that against you for any reason. Remember, that we are born anew in the waters of Baptism, adopted as sons and daughters of our Father in Heaven.