Come Follow Me: Matthew 18; Luke 10
While studying "Come Follow Me" content each week, specific thoughts, ideas, and principles seem to jump out at me.
I am not sure why they do. They just do!
Likely different from your insights, I enjoy sharing these thoughts with you.
Following is what got me thinking this week.
#1 Plucked eyeballs and amputations
As a twelve-year-old boy, life was often about fire, knives, hatchets, and other such implements of destruction.
The idea of plucking out offensive eyeballs and amputating appendages that did some kind of evil naturally captured my gruesome young imagination.
With maturity came an understanding of the importance of avoiding false doctrines and evil practices in our personal behavior and associations. The idea is of course to not do actual physical harm to the instigators. Instead, we are not to associate with them personally or within the Church.
Joseph Smith's inspired translation (JST) of the gospels provides clarification to what is meant by this eyeball plucking and amputating.
Take a look at the following passages of JST:
Matthew 18
9 And a man’s hand is his friend, and his foot, also; and a man’s eye, are they of his own household.
Mark 9
40 Therefore, if thy hand offend thee, cut it off; or if thy brother offend thee and confess not and forsake not, he shall be cut off. It is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands, to go into hell.
41 For it is better for thee to enter into life without thy brother, than for thee and thy brother to be cast into hell; into the fire that never shall be quenched, where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
42 And again, if thy foot offend thee, cut it off; for he that is thy standard, by whom thou walkest, if he become a transgressor, he shall be cut off.
46 And if thine eye which seeth for thee, him that is appointed to watch over thee to show thee light, become a transgressor and offend thee, pluck him out.
48 For it is better that thyself should be saved, than to be cast into hell with thy brother, where their worm dieth not, and where the fire is not quenched.
What is clarified by these passages?
"Thy hand" refers to your brother in the Church. These are our friends and associates.
"Thy foot" and “thine eye” is a leader in the family or the Church who sets standards to live by.
While we are free to set our boundaries of personal association, Church leaders have the responsibility to decide when a member's personal behavior crosses a line and is removed from the body of the Church through the Church disciplinary process.
Bruce R. McConkie explained it this way:
“Iniquity within the Church and kingdom of God on earth cannot be condoned; unrepentant members of the Church must be cast out, even though their severance from the body of the saints is as grievous an operation as cutting off a hand or foot or plucking out an eye. False doctrines and evil practices originating with those outside the Church are easily identified, both because of their nature and their source. But the same doctrines and practices when espoused and promulgated by those within the fold of Christ, who are presumed to be in harmony with the truth, may more easily lead the unwary astray. Indeed, one of the major factors contributing to the great apostasy in the early part of the Christian Era was the failure to cut off the dead, decaying, and corrupt branches of the gospel tree.
Members of the Church are obligated to forgive each other their trespasses. But this does not include retaining evil and unrepentant persons in full fellowship in the kingdom.” (McConkie, Bruce R. Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, Page 419. Salt Lake City, Utah: Bookcraft, 1992.)
Evil people have been trying to destroy the Savior's Church and its members since the beginning of time.
Here is one example I like from the Book of Mormon:
ALMA 46:10
Yea, we see that Amalickiah, because he was a man of cunning device and a man of many flattering words, that he led away the hearts of many people to do wickedly; yea, and to seek to destroy the church of God, and to destroy the foundation of liberty which God had granted unto them, or which blessing God had sent upon the face of the land for the righteous’ sake.
Though not so politically correct in today's world, Moroni ultimately dealt with Amalickiah in a way that appeals to my inner 12-year-old!
#2 Following is a thought that makes me smile
Matthew Chapter 18 begins with the disciples disputing among themselves, "Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?"
We know the Savior solved the issue by bringing a little boy into the midst of them and teaching that we must humble ourselves and become as little children to inherit the kingdom of God..
What if that little boy was of Peter's kids?
There is a lot of evidence to suggest it was likely.
Capernaum was Peter’s home and the Jesus’ base of operation at the time.
Many miracles, teachings, and temporal events took place in Capernaum at the same time as Matthew 18.
Wouldn't that be just like the Savior to use Peter's own little boy to make his point?
It is very possible and I like the idea.
That’s it for this week!
Thanks for reading and pondering with me!
Russell Anderson
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