Matthew 18:6-9
“If any of you put a stumbling-block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of stumbling-blocks! Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to the one by whom the stumbling-block comes! If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life maimed or lame than to have two hands or two feet and to be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into the hell of fire.”
Well, this is quite a segue! Jesus has just surprised his disciples by drawing a child to his side and insisting that greatness in the kingdom of God consists of becoming humble – that is, knowing your vulnerability and need – like a child. And then all of a sudden he’s talking about millstones and punishment and all the rest. What a shift in topic!
Or is it? I mean, Jesus has just said that true greatness lies in becoming like a child. And a huge part of being a child – and therefore like a child – in the ancient world is being vulnerable and without power. Jesus therefore not only calls his disciples to become like children but also aligns himself with these powerless and defenseless believers by speaking against any who would cause them to stumble.
I wonder whether there is a subtle shift of focus going on here. When Jesus names “these little ones who believe in me,” I wonder if he is talking not only about the particular child in front of him, or even all other children, but also about his disciples – that is, those quite literally who have believed in him and become like children. If so, then he is perhaps both warning the disciples to take care of all who are vulnerable and defenseless, including especially children, and at the same time also promising the disciples that he will look out for all those who believe in him, including his disciples who have acknowledged their vulnerability and need and come to him like children.
This would likely have been a powerful word for Matthew’s community, as most scholars believe they were experiencing significant dislocation, disruption, and vulnerability. Jesus is promising them – and all his disciples since – that he will look out for them, even as he exhorts us to look out for all others who are vulnerable.
Allow one more word, or maybe two, about those “exhortations” that we would likely more accurately call warnings. First, there’s no question that Jesus takes this business of “placing stumbling blocks” seriously. What exactly those stumbling blocks are, however, is less clear. It may be a warning to those in Matthew’s community who are urging believers to desert their faith and return to their previous traditions. Or it may be something else entirely. We just don’t know and so should probably exercise both humility and caution as we interpret these verses.
Second, I always find it interesting how many folks take the first half of Jesus’ warning as hyperbolic exaggeration – that is, we don’t really think he wants us to cut off all body parts that sin – but read the second part of that warning – about the “eternal fire” – quite literally. Almost every time Jesus mentions hell or eternal fire or the place of gnashing of teeth, he is either speaking in parables or using hyperbole. Why, then, do so many pull the threat of hell to the center of their understanding of the Christian faith? And has that theology of hell itself become a stumbling block?
Something to think about….
Prayer: Dear God, equip and encourage us through your promises to care for those who are most vulnerable. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Post image: Jesus and the Children, (detail). Stained glass windows in the Mausoleum of the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, Los Angeles, California; originally created in the 1920s for Saint Vibiana Cathedral, Los Angeles.
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