than with two hands to go to hell, to the fire that never goes out. And if your foot makes you fall into sin, cut it off! It is better for you to enter life without
a foot, than with both feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye makes you fall into sin, tear it out! It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with
one eye, than, keeping both eyes, to be thrown into hell, where the worms that eat them never die, and the fire never goes out. The fire itself will preserve
them. Salt is a good thing; but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another.”

Reflection

A 1937 definition (anonymous) of diplomacy goes thus: “The art
of telling you to go to hell in such a way that you look forward to
going there.” Well, no one can accuse Jesus or apostle James
of being too diplomatic. Today’s passages would suffice to prove
that they liked to call a spade a spade. There are no sweeteners,
no oiling the hand; just direct, in-your-face statements of
truth. They were not meant to antagonize anyone, but only to
ensure that the truth is boldly told. Of course, it did cost them
their lives, because the world does not really like to hear the
truth. In the contemporary world where even some
Christian churches, taking after the corporate world, are
over-conscious of their public relations image, we will do well
to remind ourselves that our ultimate vocation is to witness
to the truth even at the cost of our lives, and not necessarily to
ensure institutional survival.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2022