Jesus said to his disciples:
"Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink
because you belong to Christ,
amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward.
There is immense value in belonging to Christ. He loves the Church as his own body to the extent that he gave up his life for her sake (see Ephesians 5:20). He takes personally any injury done to his body, as we can see when he asked, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" (see Acts 9:4). He receives those things done for his body as done for him. There is therefore nothing trivial even about giving a cup of water to someone because she belongs to Christ. This certainly also extends to things we do for the poor with whom Jesus has also closely identified himself. Acts that seem like too little to change things much in the grand scheme end up having immense value when we realize that Christ himself is the one who is served. This can give us a whole new paradigm for how we think about small acts of kindness and their value.
Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin,
it would be better for him if a great millstone
were put around his neck
and he were thrown into the sea.
The very opposite of loving others for the sake of Christ is causing theme to sin, that is, causing scandal. Doing this has the real and terrifying potential of leading others away from Christ precisely because of the trust they placed in us. As disciples ourselves we have the obligation to represent Christ in a way that will not lead others to sin. However, since we ourselves are imperfect, our example will never be flawless. But this means that we must not pretend to be perfect but rather to be transparent about our own weaknesses and limitations so that others don't come to see them as a viable path or a reasonable excuse to do the same.
If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.
It is better for you to enter into life maimed
than with two hands to go into Gehenna,
into the unquenchable fire.
Nothing in this world is so valuable that is worth trading for entrance into the Kingdom of God. No vicious use of our hands, feet, or eyes, is worth the potential eternal consequences in the flames of Gehenna. We know this on one level. But on another it doesn't always seem to impact the magnitude or vigor of our response to sin in our lives. We tend to treat sin casually as a problem to be solved later and not as an illness that threatens the life of our very soul. Give us chastity, we pray, but not yet.
We need to maintain the flavor and preservative power of the salt of the Gospel in our lives. Even the fire of persecutions can actually help with this. The concern is that if we lose this element in the Church there is nowhere else in the world to find it. A lukewarm Church is a lifeless Church and it might require an intervention of God himself to restore the flavor of salt that is too far gone. Salt represents the vitality that remembers to see Jesus in small acts of kindness, that doesn't dally with dangerous sin and scandal, and the persists in the face of difficulty and persecution. When we live the Gospel with this intensity we have a flavor that is attractive and an ability to outlast the world's trajectory toward decomposition and decay. Then the condemnation of James toward those who kept their riches only for themselves will never apply to us.
Come now, you rich, weep and wail over your impending miseries.
Your wealth has rotted away, your clothes have become moth-eaten,
your gold and silver have corroded,
and that corrosion will be a testimony against you;
it will devour your flesh like a fire.
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