If your brother . . . entices you secretly, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods,” . . . you shall not yield to him or listen to him . . . But you shall kill him. Deuteronomy 13:6-9
The jumping cholla cactus is so named because of the ease with which it clings to anyone who gets too close. More than once while hiking in Arizona, I’ve found this cactus stuck to me, even when I thought I remained well away. Of course it doesn’t actually jump, but it seems like it does, appearing to have a will all its own. Its purpose, it would seem, is to cling to any passerby, inflicting pain upon anyone careless enough to get too close. Once it’s stuck, it’s terribly difficult to remove as it clings to us while simultaneously sticking to anything we use to try to remove it. The best way to avoid the misery of the jumping cholla is to stay far away from it.
That’s not a bad metaphor for sin. Sin – as defined by any behavior that departs from God’s intended path – seems to have a mind of its own, desiring to stick to us. Walking through life, we don’t often deliberately say – I think I’ll do something self-destructive today, something that will hurt me and my loved ones. Rather, we often find that we’ve just unintentionally picked up some bad behavior that we later regret. That thought or behavior seems to have a mind of its own though, attaching itself to us while remaining terribly difficult to remove.
The jumping cholla metaphor breaks down though, in that no one intentionally snuggles up to a cactus. Sin, however, has a gravity all its own. When a friend, despite knowing we’ve struggled with chemicals, invites us out for a drink, we may know we should run from the thought, but we allow it to linger. When the promise of an illicit image pops up on the computer, we’re intrigued. The jumping cholla only causes pain, so we’re not tempted to get close. Sin though, is attractive, enticing us to touch. No one is addicted to rolling in cacti because that only causes misery. Our self-destructive behaviors, though they may cause more pain than a cactus, enslave us because they’re terribly alluring, providing some immediate gratification.
The message of today’s passage is that when tempted by evil, unless we desire to become enslaved, we must radically abandon that temptation. The passage – in true Old Testament form – instructed the Israelites to kill anyone who tempted them to turn from God. Of course, we’re not meant to murder those who tempt us, but the point remains – We must radically cut certain people and things out of our lives if they threaten our faith and recovery.