And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter eternal life lame than, having two feet, to be thrown into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire.
The foot represents the course of life, the paths, and the directions of that path. If a person’s path, surroundings, or chosen way draws him away from God, then the same decisiveness must be shown toward that course as in the case of the hand. It is better to have a painful renunciation yet remain on the path of salvation than, with full outward abilities, to walk toward destruction. The Lord repeatedly restates these expressions, because the human heart accepts with difficulty that true gain sometimes requires great sacrifices.