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.
In a few weeks, I have the great honor to preach once again. Since working for the church in my paying day-job, I haven’t had a regular Sunday non-paying deacon job. And while that life balance is good for my soul, I must admit to that I miss regularly serving as a deacon - serving at the table, proclaiming the Gospel, and occasionally preaching.
It may sound odd, after nearly a year of daily writing, but I don’t love writing. And I didn’t love preparing sermons. But what I have come to know is that I love the process of reading, reflecting, and musing about Scripture, whether it’s in the form of Morning Prayer or preparing sermons. So I’m grateful when I get to preach, as it’s a longer form of my morning musing. I get to linger with text longer, and write longer. And like it or not, there’s a captive audience who will hear what I say. That part is a little daunting!
In any case, in musing over the scriptures for the day I preach, I came across a commentary where someone was talking about the fire, frequently referenced by Jesus and Paul. The fire that burns forever. Or as Jesus says this morning, the unquenchable fire.
The commentator was saying that while we frequently go to fire being an instrument of torture, it’s also and maybe more fittingly, an instrument of refinement. Fire removes impurities from all sorts of things.
If we think of fire as a tool for refining, this section from Jesus, and my concept of hell is different. No less frightening than a fiery tortuous place. Maybe actually more frightening.
What Jesus is saying here, I think is that while we’re on this earth, while we’re trying to make “thy kingdom come”, we should be doing the refining ourselves. If there’s a part of my being that is not helpful, not forwarding God’s love, I should prune it off, or pluck it out. I should do this for a couple reasons. First, as Paul has said, I do things I do not want to do, or don’t do things I genuinely mean to do. If after an inventory of my soul, there are parts of me that are keeping me from doing what I want, what I believe to be right, I should willingly rid myself of them.
In my world now, I have a sense that I am owed some decency and decorum in my home. That sense makes me less loving and kind than I intend to be. I need to ruthlessly cut that part out of my being. Who cares about decorum? Love God. Love your neighbor. I cannot do that, when worried about what I think should happen in my home.
The second reason I should prune or excise the bad bits now, is that it’s going happen eventually anyway. I don’t know what happens when I’m done with this earth, but if God’s kingdom includes a place where there are no tears, or sighing, than those icky bits of me and everyone around me will be removed anyway. And, I believe, they’re removed like impurities are removed from metal – in the refiner’s fire.
This morning, I’m thinking about the fiery description hell, of that place where our lives are rid of all impurities in that fire. I’m wondering if that is just a stopping-off place. Once we are refined, all those feet that cause us to stumble are lopped off, do we remain as God had originally intended? Able to love God. And Love neighbor?
If that’s even remotely possible, of course I should do some pruning now. Of course I should pluck things out or lop them off if they cause me or anyone around me to stumble. It’s going to happen anyway when all my icky bits are refined away. Why not try to become that person that God’s intended me to be now?
Today, I pray to see those parts of my being that cause another to stumble. I want to name them, and work to get rid of them. It’s better to try myself, than to wait for that fire than is never quenched.
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