Two weeks ago, I listened to a CBC podcast called The Current. The topic of the day caught my attention: “Music as Medicine.” The guest, a neuroscientist and musician, explained that music not only has the power to soothe the soul but can also heal the body and brain. Our auditory system – the eardrum – is directly connected to parts of our brain, triggering remarkable healing effects within the body. For instance, when we hear k.d. Lang’s version of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, we experience that tingly sensation and chills that raise the hairs on the back of our neck and send shivers down our spine.
If we play music with someone we’ve never met for just 20 minutes, we can feel such empathy that if they are in pain, we feel it, too. It is fascinating how music can heal both our bodies and souls! This is what we call music therapy. There are many types of therapeutic approaches—over 20 in my research—such as play therapy, art therapy, and family therapy, all of which aim to enhance mental and emotional well-being.
Today, I want to introduce one more therapy: Shock Therapy. While it can refer to a medical or economic intervention, I’d like to use it in a different sense. The shock therapy I’m talking about is a rhetorical method that Jesus often used to capture the full attention of his disciples. Jesus was a master at using language to make his point with maximum effect. Let’s explore what that means.
In today’s scripture, Jesus uses vivid and graphic imagery to convey the seriousness of following him. He says, if your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off again. And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. Furthermore, if you cause others to stumble in their faith – especially the “little ones” – you should hang a millstone around your neck and throw yourself into the sea. In summary, Jesus emphasizes that if you cause yourself or others, particularly those with little influence or power who are marginalized by society, to stumble in their faith, the consequences are severe.
Here, Jesus’ words are very difficult to hear. That’s why many preachers hesitate to preach on this passage. The imagery is so disturbing that Matthew, who usually follows Mark’s account closely, reduces Mark’s seven verses to two, and Luke omits this part entirely.
Why does Jesus use such disturbing imagery when cautioning against sin and temptation? Some suggest that this is reminiscent of Jewish proverbial wisdom, such as the warning not to look at a virgin lest one stumble or the saying, “Do not allow your ears to listen to idle chatter for they are the first of the body’s organs to be burned. Do not long for another’s wealth, for it may cast you into heavy darkness and gloom . . . and do not let your feet hurry you to sin, lest the Angel of Death come to meet you.”
But Jesus’ metaphorical teachings here are harsher than Jewish proverbial wisdom. He relies on exaggeration and striking, graphic imagery to amplify his message and emphasize the seriousness of what he is trying to convey. This is Jesus’ version of Shock Therapy to capture the full attention of the disciples.
So, as long as we understand that this is an exaggeration, we don’t need to cut off any body parts to be followers of Jesus. He uses these metaphors partly to reflect the most common injuries that rural farmers experienced in his time, which is why they are so relatable to his audience. It would have been easy for farmers to understand the impact of such injuries. More importantly, during Jesus’ time, there were many sayings like these, and his audience would have had no difficulty recognizing that Jesus was speaking metaphorically.
Like a surgeon who must amputate an infected leg to save a person’s life, the same applies spiritually. Jesus’s real message here is: if anything causes us to go astray, we must deal with it with utmost seriousness to live in the kingdom of God. If we cause others to stumble, we must face the consequences. I believe this is what Jesus intended for his audience 2,000 years ago.
But what happens if we choose not to follow Jesus’ words? I’ll explain what could unfold: this is the ‘Pyramid of Hate,’ published by the Anti-Defamation League. When we hear about the horrific events in history – such as the Holocaust, ethnic cleansing in Rwanda, or the residential schools and cultural genocide of Indigenous peoples in Canada – our first reaction is, often, “How could anyone commit such terrible acts?”
Pyramid of Hate
What we must understand is that none of these horrific acts begin as sudden decisions. Instead, they grow from the smallest seeds of hate – such as stereotyping, microaggressions, or passively allowing hateful jokes to go unchallenged. This is the lowest level of the Pyramid of Hate. If left unchecked, this escalates to individual acts of prejudice, like making slurs or hateful remarks.
If people or institutions treat behaviours on the lower levels as acceptable or “normal,” it leads to the behaviours at the next level becoming more tolerated. The third level involves acts of bias on a regional scale, such as economic discrimination, racial housing policies, segregation, and disparities in criminal justice. The fourth level is bias-motivated violence: assault, murder, threats, or arson. Many examples come to mind, including targeted attacks on mosques or synagogues and police brutality against minorities and racialized people. The final level of the pyramid represents some of the worst crimes in humanity: genocide and ethnic cleansing.
In today’s passage, Jesus’ words about cutting off a hand or eye may seem overly harsh. But we can understand why he urges such drastic action without hesitation. If we do address our own biased attitudes and challenge the prejudices of others, they can and will grow unchecked, progressing to higher levels of the Pyramid of Hate.
I want to conclude my reflection by noting that tomorrow, September 30th, is Orange Shirt Day. It is a statutory holiday also called National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. On this day, we wear orange like we did today to remember and honour all the Indigenous children who attended residential schools, who were forcibly moved from their homes, exposed to abuse, and deprived of their ancestral languages. We also remember the countless children who died from neglect, abuse and disease.
On this day, we remind ourselves of the devastating impact of government policies on Indigenous Peoples, which causes profound suffering and permanent damage to their language, culture, spirituality, oral history and traditions. Apologies and lip service are not enough. Moreover, we must not forget that something as terrible as the residential system began with the smallest seeds of hate and greed.
God, may you guide us so that we are not led astray. Help us to make sure we do not cause others to stumble. Grant us the strength and courage to live in truth and reconciliation. Amen.