<p>5:30- see on 7:19.</p>
<p><em>And if your right hand causes you to stumble-&nbsp;</em>Not just 'your hand'. The right hand was a Hebrew idiom for the power, the thinking, the dominant desire of a man. If it&rsquo;s all taking us the wrong way, we must cut it off- and cast it from us, with no regrets about what we have given up.&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Cut it off and throw it away, for it is profitable for you that one of your members should perish and not your whole body go into Gehenna-&nbsp;</em>Even though Jesus never sinned, He reveals a remarkable insight into the process of human sin, temptation and subsequent moral need. This was learnt not only from reflection on Old Testament teaching, but surely also by a sensitive seeking to enter into the feelings and processes of the sinner. This is why no sinner, ourselves included, need ever feel that this perfect Man is somehow unable to be touched by the feeling of our infirmities. Consider how He spoke of looking upon a woman to lust after her; and how He used the chilling figure of cutting out the eye or hand that offended (Mt. 5:29)- the very punishments meted out in Palestine at the time for sexual misbehaviour. He had surely observed men with eyes on stalks, looking at women. Although He never sinned, yet He had thought Himself into their likelihood of failure, He knew all about the affairs going on in the village, the gutter talk of the guys at work... yet He knew and reflected upon those peoples' moral need, they were questions to Him that demanded answers, rather than a thanking God that He was not like other men were. Reflect on the characters of the Lord's parables. They cover the whole gamut of first century Palestinian life- labourers and elder sons and officials and mums and dads. They were snapshots of typical human behaviour, and as such they are essays in the way Jesus diagnosed the human condition; how much He had reflected upon people and society, and perceived our tragic need as nobody else has. &nbsp;He invites the zealous saint to cut off the various limbs of the body (for they&nbsp;<em>all</em>&nbsp;cause offence at some time!), so that he might enter the Kingdom. To the Jewish&nbsp;mind, imagining such a scene would have created the impression of priestly action. The sensitive reader is invited to see himself as &ldquo;the offering and the priest&rdquo;.</p>