Cutting Off Distractions, Literally

Today's Gospel is from Mark:

“If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.

And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched."

The priest said:

"When we look at this passage, we need to remember that Jesus, like many of the story tellers of those times, used hyperbole, exaggeration, and word pictures when He wanted to get across the seriousness of the point He was trying to make. So it's pretty vivid.

Here He's warning against the sin of being a stumbling block, of blocking access to the words of Life, of judging unworthy the little ones, the powerless ones, those who are on the margin, and causing them to fall away.

He's saying to His followers, you must make sacrifices. They may cut off and renounce and separate themselves from the attitude that keep people from experiencing the grace, the love, and the welcome of God.

We think that distractions are a modern problem, but it's clear that distractions were a problem in Jesus' time, too. He used the example of body parts (hands, feet, eyes) that cause one to "stumble," while we would likely refer to electronic devices and the plethora of activities that cause us to lose focus. Whatever the example employed, human weakness hasn't changed much over the millennia.