stumble

“and if your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out”  Matthew 5:29

Stumble – This word is all about the cheese.  Want to get rid of a mouse?  Don’t have a cat?  Then you will soon be at the store buying a mousetrap.  But the trap won’t do any good at all unless you bait it.  A little cheese will seduce the mouse into self-destruction.  That is the meaning of skandalon – the bait that sets the trap.

You will see our English word “scandal” in this Greek root, and for good reason.  A scandal is the result of being baited into a trap.  Something very bad happens as a result of not being aware of the danger.

In this verse, Jesus says that your own eyes can bait you.  Jesus just concluded a lesson about adultery.  This comment about bait fits right into the context.  Every human being knows that adultery doesn’t begin with jumping into bed.  It begins with bait.  Perhaps we are either more aware of sexual bait or more satiated by sexual bait than by the bait of other sins, but there is little doubt that many of our cultural mores play the “bait” game with sex.  How does any man (or woman) not stumble over this?  The reason bait works so well is that it appeals to our built-in desire.  Remember Eve?  The bait of the serpent began with the appeal to her desire to be like God.  Do you suppose Eve today would think, “Oh, that would be so nice”?  “Look at all the good I could do.  Think of all the problems I could solve.  I would fix so many things.”  No matter how it’s dressed, it is still bait.  Anyone who has ever felt the “vibes” across a crowded room knows that the packaging doesn’t change the contents.

A friend taught me something important about stumbling with your eyes.  Whenever he was confronted with bait in the form of another human being, he began immediately to pray for that person.  Specifically, directly that God’s purposes and blessing would be evident in the life of that other person.   Imagine Eve.  “Oh, I appreciate so much the opportunity to pray for you, Mr. Serpent.  Your suggestion that I might want to be like God just reminded me of how much I want God to make the most of your life.  Let me pray right now that God will bless you and keep you all of your days.”  The serpent might still have feet.

Today:  When bait passes before your eyes, don’t pray, “God help me.”  Pray, “God, grant them Your peace, Your grace and mercy.”  The antidote to bait is intercession.