Bishop Allison is a mesmerizing speaker. To add emphasis to his sermon at Trinity 28 years ago, he utilized the distant roll of thunder, which gradually got louder as he eased into the Sermon on the Mount.
I listened intently, especially to his interpretation of the part that says “Anyone who even looks at a woman with lust in his eye has already committed adultery with her in his heart. So if your eye ”” even if it is your best eye ”” causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away. Better for part of you to be destroyed than for all of you to be cast into hell”¦”
The bishop in essence said that most men who had ever been to the beach in the summer would probably going around without eyes if the law was strictly obeyed.
He said we shouldn’t give the Pharisees such a hard time because it’s virtually impossible to obey the spirit of the law. He noted this was the gist of what Jesus was trying to say.
