Many professions require an entrance exam to be passed before studies can begin in earnest. Perhaps the most famous is the Medical College Admission Test or MCAT. It is supposed to be one of the hardest tests, and I would hope so. I don’t want some dummy opening up my brain! I want the sharpest of the sharp cutting into me. Pun intended!
Disney has an entrance exam for many of its rides. You have to be a certain height in order to get on the ride. If you are shorter, then you can’t get on the ride. It’s the rules. It won’t do any good to argue with the attendant, they don’t make the rules. They are just as stuck as you are.
Of course when you want to get a driver’s license you must pass the test, both written and behind the wheel. I think they have forgotten to check to see if people actually use their turn signals during the test. I wonder if they have passed people who were talking on their cell phones or texting during the test. There sure are lots of people doing it these days on the roads.
The disciples have made up their own entrance exam for being a follower of Jesus. They have become the selection committee. They have made up the screening rules. They want veto power over any candidates who want into the circle.
Jesus stamps His foot down hard against this kind of thinking. He wants nothing to do with excluding by some arbitrary rule. He invites people into the circle. Who are they to exclude? So He describes some very radically severe examples of the lengths we should go to not invent exclusionary rules.
Some have pointed to these statements about hands, feet and eyes and concluded that Jesus is not worth following, if He prescribes this kind of behavior for His followers. But Jesus is using a common literally tool to make His point. To demonstrate just how serious preventing people from entering into a relationship with Him is, He speaks of a penalty that is so extreme that everyone would know He was not being literal. He uses this tool to shock people into taking what He says and obeying it.
Preventing people from entering in a relationship with the LORD is a serious thing. It shouldn’t be taken lightly. Our lives should reflect the open, welcoming presence of Jesus. He opened His army to anyone who wanted to come to Him. He also told people to “go and sin no more.” He was not large on love and small on sin. Following Him requires great sacrifice. We must die to what we want, and live for what He wants.
Do we ever make up rules to screen people in and out of God’s Kingdom, or out of our lives? Some of these rules are good. They can keep us safe. But some of the rules are there to just make us feel better about ourselves. They have everything to do with pride, “My dad’s better than your dad” mentality.
But many of these rules regarding the Kingdom don’t fit with the Gospel. “Come to Jesus” is the cry. But so is “sin no more.” The Gospel is both/and, not either/or.
The Arnold Journey 