Sermon on the Mount: Matthew 5:27-30

Matthew 5:27-30, Exodus 20:14, Job 31:1

As we continue in the Sermon on the Mount devotional series it is important to remember that Jesus in this context is directing his teaching to two crowds. He is teaching to his disciples, as well as the members of the great crowds that began to follow him for his teachings and healings. The context of chapter 5 so far has revealed that Jesus is speaking mainly to the disciples, but it is a great message for anyone in the crowd to be hearing. 

So far Jesus had covered the beatitudes, being salt and light of the earth, and anger. Now we arrive at what could be seen as a challenging or maybe even awkward topic. In these several verses Jesus teaches about lust. While it may be awkward, it is clear that Jesus desired to teach on lust, enough so that he brought it up among this short list of major teachings. 

A few important notes of context over these few verses. He begins the teaching by quoting one of the ten commandments. He is directly addressing the old law, not to abolish it but to elaborate on it and extend its truths to his current followers. Secondly, Jesus is teaching to all people here, but directly addresses men. In verse 27 he references “everyone who looks at a woman…”, here he is addressing the men in the crowd. Now lust and adultery is not unique to men and Jesus intended the women in the crowd to hear this message, but he does call out the men specifically. 

Jesus says two statements that Christians can take out of context or take a little to literal. He says that anyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery in his heart. He also says that if your eye or hand causes you to sin, you should remove that member of your body. Jesus obviously takes lust very seriously. But what does he really mean here? 

Are adultery or the heart and the physical act of adultery the same thing? Should we actually take out our eyes or cut off our hands? Take a second and sit with this scripture.

While Jesus didn’t mean to literally cut off your hand, men and women, he does mean to remove anything from your life that might cause you to have lustful thoughts or take lustful actions. Heed Christ’s words here. If lust is a consistent struggle for you, what might you need to do to cut temptation out of your life?