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If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. (Matt. 5:29)

And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. (Matt. 5:30)

You have heard that it was said, “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. (Matt. 5:43–45)

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matt. 5:48)

Moses 2.0

Jesus’s listeners were familiar with “Thou shalt not murder” and confident in their ability to keep that commandment. But “Don’t even get angry with someone” was certainly a new one they had broken as recently as that morning. Similarly, they’d heard “Thou shalt not commit adultery” and were likely able to resist that temptation. But “Don’t even look at a woman with lust”? “How are we supposed to control a split-second impulse?” they might wonder. Then Jesus really drives his point home—he tells them to pluck out their eyes, cut off their hands, and be perfect just like God.

Notice that Jesus refers to Moses several times and then raises the standard. He makes it impossible for anyone to comply. Second, notice the consequences for disobeying his teaching—judgment and being thrown into hell.

Some have explained Matthew 5 as a passage on spiritual growth applicable to Christians. Based on the consequences threatened by Jesus, I don’t believe Jesus is suggesting a path to spiritual growth. Instead, our final destination is in question. It’s about whether we’ll be “sons of [our] Father in heaven” (5:45) or whether we’ll be “thrown into hell” (5:29). That’s the context, and those are Jesus’s words.

The only reason we survive this “killer” sermon without factoring in the great divide of the cross is that most of us haven’t given Jesus’s teachings our best effort. With the mentality of “he didn’t really mean it,” we settle for our own watered-down version of Jesus’s teaching. As a consequence, Jesus is no longer a stumbling block. He’s only a small bump in the road as we travel toward our goal of “self-improvement.”

But now that we’ve seen the dividing line of the cross, we don’t have to water down Jesus’s harsh teachings. Instead, we can put them in context. Take some time to go back and read through the four Gospels. Notice the two ministries of Jesus—his second ministry bringing in the new covenant but also his first ministry to condemn the proud with the unattainable, true spirit of the law. This first ministry doesn’t showcase your friendly, neighborhood Jesus. This is the Lord with a sword. Jesus repeatedly refers to the law of Moses and then raises the bar.

Introducing Moses 2.0.

What was Jesus’s motivation in presenting these impossible teachings? Jesus amplified the law to show that it couldn’t possibly be obeyed. He told some to sever body parts. He told others to sell everything they owned. And he even called some “snakes.”

What was the result? The rich man went away sad. The Pharisees went away mad. Mission accomplished.

Vancouver 2010

Olympic standards are high. In 2010, the Winter Olympic Games were held in Vancouver, British Columbia. At that time, the ski conditions were such that the downhill slalom competitors were reaching speeds in excess of 90 miles per hour during their practice runs. The average for competitive skiing at this level is usually only in the 85 miles per hour range. So the Olympic Committee decided to start the skiers lower on the mountain to prevent them from reaching unmanageable speeds.

As we saw in Matthew 5, Jesus invites his listeners to a spiritual Olympics of sorts. But in contrast to the Vancouver Olympic Committee, Jesus takes the starting line and places it higher on the mountain. That way, every skier finds it impossible to navigate the course. No one will ever make it down, much less earn a medal.

But in a