43 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. [44] [a] 45 And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. [46] [b] 47 And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, 48 where
“‘the worms that eat them do not die,
and the fire is not quenched.’[c]
Horsham: 6th January 2025
In our modern world, ‘denial’ has become something of an art form. A generation ago, holocaust denial would have rightly provoked consternation. Sadly, less so nowdays. In spite of the irrefutable historical evidence to the contrary, extremist politicians and writers openly reference it as an exaggerated or even false historical narrative.
So, as followers of Jesus, how do we react to the widespread contemporary rejection of the existence of hell in western, even evangelical, Christianity? Of course, there is no historic or scientific proof of its existence, but we could say the same about every aspect of our faith (Hebrews 11:1-2). If we are followers of Jesus we need to listen very carefully to His words, and here is a passage in which Jesus warns not only that it is a thing, but he describes the lengths to which his followers should go to avoid ending up there.
Gehenna – An Image of Hell
The word translated here as ‘hell’ is sometimes called ‘gehenna’. This is a word with its roots in the Old Testament, where it referenced a place of child sacrifice and detestable practices in the time of King Ahaz (2 Chronicles 28:3). By Jesus time, it referenced an area outside the city where refuse was dumped and burned. The refuse included the bodies of those who died in poverty or had been executed. It was a horrible place, with the smoke of fires mixing with the stench of corruption, overrun with scavenging insects and parasites, including worms.
A simple discussion on the concept of Gehenna in Judaism and Christianity is here (external link to Christianity.com)
If it Causes You to Stumble – Cut it Off!
Gehenna is a representation of hell – it is not literally hell. In the same way, Christ’s words about cutting off parts of the body or gouging out the eyes are absolutely not to be taken literally. The context is that the disciples have just been arguing about who is the greatest. The meaning here is simple and clear. We are to deal with the areas of our lifestyle which have the potential to cause us to stumble in our faith. The hand represents the things which you do. The foot represents the places you go. The eye represents the things which you are looking at. NT Wright says that there is a spiritual war on, and we need to be fit for the battle and prepared to fight!(i) If you allow yourself to be drawn into or over focussed on any activity, sinful or otherwise, which undermines your service to Christ, you need to deal with it.
The message is simple. Cut the bad stuff out of your life and put it on the waste tip. Leave in in Gehenna. Better than ending up there yourself.
The end piece
Christ’s teaching includes warnings about hell, and how to avoid ending up there. It’s about your decisions. They have consequences.
Look at how you live your life. What do you do? Where do you go? What are you looking at (including the time you spend on social media!)?
Whether your hands are doing things they should not, your feet take you to places you know you should not be going, or your eyes are looking at things you should not be looking at, Christ says deal with the problem! These things are within your control. You need to exercise control. I can’t tell you what these things are in your own life, but if you stop and think about it, you will recognise them! Try to see yourself through His eyes. These things lead you down a dangerous path. Christ says that it is the path to destruction.
I want to remind you that this is about more than dealing with sinful behaviour – obviously you need to deal with that! This is about all of your lifestyle choices. Of course, the choice is yours. You could simply ignore Christ’s advice and carry on as you are. You could keep following the wrong path and find yourself ending up in a place like Gehenna, where the worms never die and the fire just keeps on burning. You could just go to hell.
Richard Jackson, West Sussex: LifePictureUK
(i) NT Wright: Mark for Everyone, p124-125