Would you pluck out your eye?

In the passage in Matthew 5:29 and Mark 9:47 "If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. Better for you to enter the kingdom of Heaven with one eye than to be cast with two eyes into Hell."

This should not be too surprising if we look at it in the proper context. If I am righteous, I want to convince everyone around me of my goodness and my good intentions. Therefore, If I want to convince someone of my goodness, I might say "I am so righteous, I would never look at a prostitute. It was my eye that looked. I couldn't help it."

Someone might also say "I would never steal. It was this cursed hand of mine that stole." ... and so on. This would make me look better. I am a good person, and I can't help it if my body members sin.

And there is reference that parts of your body to not communicate with the self. In Matthew 6:3, Jesus says "do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing." It is thoughts like this that would lead someone to say "I don't know why my hand is sinning. I am good, but my hand is sinning."

We all know for sure that we can control our hands and eyes. They are all controlled by our brains for conscious actions, and by our reflexes for reflex actions. So, Jesus is only saying that you should get rid of the body parts that you cannot control.

In other words, take responsibility for your actions.