Pluck It Out!

"And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out." Mark 9:47

There is an amazing legend of Saint Lucy of Syracuse. She is the Patron Saint of the blind and of eye problems. She wanted to remain a virgin and refused to be married. When she had a suitor who pined for her beautiful eyes, she plucked them out and sent them to him, so that he would leave her alone. According to the story, God miraculously restored her eyes. Then another rejected suitor renounced her as a Christian to the magistrate. When she refused to give a sacrifice to the Emperor's image, she was sentenced to be placed in a brothel. When the guards came to execute the sentence, they found her body so heavy, they could not carry her even if they pulled her with a team of oxen!!! Finally, they decided to gouge her eyes out, but she was still able to see without her eyes.  Pictures of Saint Lucy often depict her eyes on a plate. 

The story is quite gory, and we cannot tell which part of it really happened! What is true is that Jesus did say if any part of our body causes us to sin, whether it be our eyes, our hand, our foot, our lips, it is better to pluck or cut it off, rather than we be “thrown into Gehenna, where the worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched".  In the Bible, Gehenna was where some kings of Judah sacrificed children to the god Molech by throwing them into the fire in the Valley of Hinnom. In Jewish Rabbinic literature, it is where the wicked go when they die. 

Do we believe in Hell or not? Jesus obviously knew it existed. Lord, thank You for coming down, to speak our language, to teach us, but most of all, to save us from Gehenna. You have done everything so that we would not be thrown into Genenna, but to enjoy eternal life with You. May our eyes see as You see, with compassion, and love, for everyone we meet.