"You have heard that it was said: Do not commit adultery. But I tell you this: anyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent, has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
So, if your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away! It is much better for you to lose a part of your body, than to have your whole body thrown into hell. If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away! It is better for you to lose a part of your body, than to have your whole body thrown into hell.
It was also said: Anyone who divorces his wife, must give her a written notice of divorce. But what I tell you is this: if a man divorces his wife, except in the case of unlawful union, he causes her to commit adultery. And the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery." - Matthew 5:27-32
(Do not commit adultery. For many, conjugal fidelity is a burdensome and old-fashioned law, which they merely admire in others. JESUS replaces fidelity among the laws of the interior world, where GOD, the Faithful One is to reign.
If your right eye... Here we must underline the opposition between: your hand, your eye, and: you. In another place JESUS will say that we must be able to give up everything, but here HE dares to add: even your physical integrity.
All of us are looking for happiness, promotion and security, but what are those criteria worth? All strive to live fully their life and enjoy without limits their own health and body, but here JESUS tells us that true life is elsewhere and that true self creates itself while accepting mutilations of the present life.
It is only a matter of sacrificing what could drag us to "major fault and sin'? The word of JESUS goes far beyond. As much as we complain about the misery and meaninglessness of our life, we conserve it at any cost with the hope of still enjoying this world. What if real sin were to avoid any risk and self-sacrifice when GOD is calling?
JESUS speaks of a hell of fire, because there is nothing worse than this final result: a lost life that has not been fruitful, and the abortion of our eternal self.
Anyone who divorces his wife... Here this saying of JESUS is given as an example of the courageous decisions that a Christian may be called upon to make. GOD sometimes asks for heroic sacrifices. The one who does not choose the difficult way necessarily loses something of the Gospel.
Except in the case of unlawful union. These words are not found in the other quotations of this saying of JESUS. Why did Matthew put them? In fact, there are two possible interpretations.
First, it can be understood that one spouse has an extra licentious relationship, and then the other is allowed to separate.
Second, it can be understood that the one entering the Church through baptism is living with an unlawful union, and then this marriage or concubinage does not tie him.)
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