You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body go into Gehenna.
Jesus continues His Sermon on the Mount by showing the fuller and deeper meaning of God’s commandments. The commandment says, “You shall not commit adultery” (v. 27). This commandment comes from the Ten Commandments and protects the covenant of marriage (Ex. 20:14; Deut. 5:18). Adultery is a grave offense because it wounds fidelity, damages relationships, and treats another person in a way contrary to God’s design. Jesus now teaches that the commandment reaches beyond the outward act. It also concerns the heart, where desire, intention, and choice begin.
Jesus then says, “everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (v. 28). In biblical language, the heart is the place where a person chooses, desires, and turns toward or away from God. Jesus moves from the outward act to the inward desire. He teaches that sin can begin before an outward act is committed, when a person freely welcomes a desire that turns another person into an object of selfish use.
This teaching calls for purity of heart. Purity of heart means that love, desire, and sight are ordered toward God and toward the true good of the other person. Human desire is part of God’s creation, and it must be governed by love, self-control, and respect for the dignity of others. Saint Paul gives a similar warning when he tells the Corinthians that the body is meant for the Lord and that Christians are called to glorify God in their bodies (1 Cor. 6:13, 20).
Jesus then uses strong exaggerations to show the seriousness of sin: “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away” (v. 29), and “if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away” (v. 30). These examples are not meant to be carried out physically. They are forceful images that call for decisive action against whatever leads a person into sin. The right eye and right hand point to things that may be valuable, familiar, or close to us. Jesus teaches that whatever draws us toward serious sin must be removed from our lives, even when the sacrifice is difficult.
The eye is especially important in this passage because Jesus has just spoken about looking with lust. A person’s gaze can become an entrance for sin, so the disciple must learn to guard sight, imagination, and desire. This may require avoiding images, habits, conversations, or situations that weaken purity of heart. The Lord’s words call for decisive action because small compromises can become settled choices.
Jesus gives the reason for this seriousness: “It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna” (v. 29). Gehenna was remembered in the Old Testament as a place connected with grave sin and judgment (2 Kings 23:10; Jer. 7:31-32). Here it refers to the dreadful consequence of rejecting God and remaining in grave sin. The warning is severe because the soul is precious. No sacrifice is too great when eternal life is at stake.
This passage is also a call to see others with a pure heart. A person made in the image of God must be loved, honored, and never reduced to an object of desire. In marriage, this means fidelity of body and heart. For every disciple, it means asking Christ to purify the way we look, think, choose, and love. Jesus calls His followers to a righteousness that reaches the whole person, so that the heart may belong fully to God.
Lord Jesus, purify my heart and teach me to love others with respect, self-control, and truth. Help me to turn away from whatever leads me into sin, and give me the grace to choose what leads to eternal life. Amen.
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Sources and References
- The New American Bible, Revised Edition. Matthew 5:27-30 and note on Matthew 5:29-30.
- Hahn, Scott, and Curtis Mitch. The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2010. Page 16.
- José María Casciaro, gen. ed. The Navarre Bible: New Testament, Expanded Edition. Dublin: Four Courts Press; New York: Scepter Publishers, 2008. Pages 63-64.
- Brown, Raymond E., Joseph A. Fitzmyer, and Roland E. Murphy, eds. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1990. Page 642, paragraph 30.
- Aguilar Chiu, José Enrique, Richard J. Clifford, Carol J. Dempsey, Eileen M. Schuller, Thomas D. Stegman, and Ronald D. Witherup, eds. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. New York: Paulist Press, 2018. Page 921.
- Collins, John J., Gina Hens-Piazza, Barbara Reid OP, and Donald Senior CP, eds. The Jerome Biblical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century. Third Fully Revised Edition, with a Foreword by Pope Francis. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2022. Page 1183.
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