Hop-a-long Christianity

And if your foot causes your downfall, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. – Mark 9:45

This verse is part of a series where Jesus tells His disciples that if your foot, hand, or eye causes you to miss life it would be better for you to cut off or pluck out the offending part. It’s not a good idea to take this too literally, but what Jesus says it true.

Everyone is familiar with the classic O. Henry story called “The Gift of the Magi”. It tells of a poor but loving young couple who want to buy one another a special gift at Christmas. The woman wants to buy her husband a platinum chain for his cherished pocket watch. The man wants to buy an expensive tortoiseshell comb for his wife’s long, lovely hair. She sells her hair to a wig maker to buy the chain, and he sells his watch to buy the comb. It’s one of those fictional true stories.

We recognize the truth of “The Gift of the Magi” because we all know that love is a matter of sacrifice. As the song says, “Love hurts.” But it is a good thing. If we are not somehow maimed, hampered, or impended by our relationship, we know nothing about love. Does love embolden us, ennoble us, enable us? Certainly it does. Love is liberating. But like all the really important issues of life, it requires us to embrace a paradox. We are liberated by being imprisoned. The husband may refer to his wife as “the old ball and chain”, yet that anchor is exactly what frees him to do what he would not and could not otherwise do. So, too, when we would enter into the real life of God, at some point we are going to be called on to give up, not merely our sin, but our virtues.

Jacob was a man of strength. When he first met Rachel, she was bringing her sheep to water. A great stone covered the well, and it was necessary for the other shepherds to gather to remove the stone so that all the flocks in the area could be watered. Jacob moved the stone by himself. He later spoke of his endurance in the face of hardship and toil. He was not a man who was afraid of hard work, long hours, or suffering. Jacob was a fighter, and he was tough. When he wrestled with the Angel of the Lord, he fought throughout the night, unwilling to surrender or be defeated. The Lord granted him blessing and favor in response to his persistence. It came, though, with a price. The Angel touched Jacob’s hip and threw it out of joint. For the rest of his life, Jacob walked with a limp. He was maimed.

In my anger, at times, I have made the statement that I don’t need anybody. And that’s true. If all I want is death, I can die whole, complete, and alone. But if I want life, I have to be yoked, shackled, and wounded. The more I try to hang onto freedom, to reserve parts of myself from sacrifice, from being maimed, the more I understand hell where, as Jesus said, the devouring worm is never still nor satiated, and the fire never stops burning.

To enter into life, I will lay my best on the altar. To hold God’s hand, I have to give up mine. To see the Lord, I have to give Him my eye. To walk the strait and narrow, I have to walk with a limp.