Matthew 18:6

III. YOUR HUMILITY IS MEASURED BY YOUR CONCERN ABOUT YOUR OWN SINS AND LIABILITY TO SIN AND WHAT THIS DOES TO OTHERS (18:6-9)

A. THE ONE WHO CAUSES STUMBLING IS BETTER OFF DEAD. (18:6)

Matthew 18:6 But whoso shall cause one of these little ones that believe on me to stumble, it is profitable for him that a great millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be sunk in the depth of the sea. This is the antithesis of Matthew 18:5, since to harm or hinder one of these little ones is to attack Jesus! (Cf. Acts 9:4; Acts 5:39) The reason Jesus brings this up is that the Twelve must see that their vying with each other must necessarily tend to produce bitterness, provoke anger and offend one another.

By saying one of these little ones that believe on me, Jesus enlarges the range of His principle. Without excluding little children, He now includes weak Christians for our thoughtful service. Tolbert (Good News From Matthew, 155) asserts that the little one is by definition weak and vulnerable. He looks to others for leadership. To be a leader involves a special responsibility, for his actions may damage those who come under his influence. (Cf. James 3:1 ff) New Christians especially need proper direction and careful reorientation. O my soul, am I such a guide: would it really benefit the progress of a weak Christian to move in beside me, or block it? Would I merely, however unconsciously, drag him down to my own miserable plane? Faithfulness to God is measured not only by the welcome given His messengers (see on Matthew 10:40-42), but also in the conduct we show toward the weakest and most lacking, the most incompetent and those without resources, the slow students, the unaware and the unprepared, in short, the bruised reeds and the smoldering wicks. (Matthew 12:18-21) Whoever takes up the work of unifying humanity in the Kingdom of God, but forgets those who suffer because of the divisions among men or are what they are as a result of these barriers, is on the wrong road. The greatness and utility of our programs and projects must be judged by the prominence they give to the weakest and most undefended, those who are of no use to the powerful nor even to those who struggle to dethrone them to grab their place. Jesus Himself took this latter road, beginning with the nobodies, the little ones who believed in Him, mere babes. (Cf. Matthew 11:25 ff) Unfortunately, the disciples are always in danger of forgetting that their position and strength has been given them by Jesus. (2 Peter 1:9; Ephesians 2:3-10; Titus 3:1-7; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11; Colossians 1:12) Constant reminder is necessary for those who are themselves in danger, to keep them helping others in similar peril, since zeal to rescue others is an excellent antidote to complacency. (1 Timothy 4:16; Hebrews 12:12 f) From this standpoint, there is a lot of little one in every one of us! (See on Matthew 18:8-9.)

Cause to stumble (skandalízein) means to be the bait in the trap which allures the unsuspecting into the trap and ensnares them. (See on Matthew 18:7.) In our context it means to have no regard for others-' weakness by refusing to adapt ourselves to their intellectual and ethical ignorance and inconsistencies. It is to make a life that is holy and useful to God more difficult for them to live. It is to destroy their innocence by being their encouragement to do the wrong thing, hence push them along the road to forbidden things. To teach another to sin must be the worst sin of all. A stumbling-block is anything in my conduct that causes another to be so shocked, so shaken in conscience that he yields to the temptation to act in some way inconsistent with his principles, and, therefore, sin, and, in so doing, miss the right way to life. It may be some act of mine that violates his conscientious scruples. Whether or not he be over-scrupulous is not the primary question. Rather, the issue is whether or not his conscience has been horrified or shaken from its foundation by what I do. For example, one of these little ones that believe in me, because he knows nothing of our liberty to do what we do, may suppose, without conviction of his right, that he too has that liberty, and in following our example, he sins, because he did not follow his conscience (upon which he will be judged), but our example (on which he will not be judged). For a full discussion of this principle, study Romans 14:1 to Romans 15:7 and 1 Corinthians 6:12 to 1 Corinthians 11:1. In these extended texts. Paul's amplified argumentation covers both neutral conduct about which some could be scandalized as well as that openly sinful conduct which is wrong for everyone. In Jesus-' sermon here (Matthew 18:6) it is clear that He sees as potentially scandalous also for others the disciples-' selfish ambition to be the most important figure at the expense of others beneath them. The Lord's own example in paying the temple tax lest we cause them to stumble shows that situation to have contained a risk He chose not to run. So, Christ-like deference means limiting our freedom so as not to shock the conscience of those little ones to whom Christ has called us to minister. Any habit or action of mine could become a stumbling-block to anyone, with or without my knowledge. It is when I become aware of it that I can and must eliminate the occasion of stumbling. (See on Matthew 18:8 f.)

It is profitable for him has been understood in two different ways:

1.

His deserved punishment. Bruce (Training, 198) explains this view:

It were better for himor, it suits him, it is what he deserves and it is implied, though not expressed, that it is what he gets when divine vengeance at length overtakes him. The mill-stone is no idle figure of speech, but an appropriate emblem of the ultimate doom of the proud. He who will mount to the highest place, regardless of the injuries he may inflict on little ones, shall be cast down, not to earth merely, but to the very lowest depths of the ocean, to the very abyss of hell, with a heavy weight of curses suspended on his neck to sink him down, and keep him down, so that he shall rise no more.

2.

Comparative value to the offender. It is profitable for him in comparison with the severity of the punishment he would receive for causing the loss of those whom he considers inferior to himself. There is a fate worse than death to which even the most gruesome execution would be preferable before being able to carry out the scandalous deed. (See on Matthew 18:8 f.) The particular execution pictured here is that of a convicted man around whose neck a donkey-drawn millstone has been hung, who is then taken by boat to a lonely, particularly deep expanse of sea and there pushed overboard to drown. (Cf. Revelation's use of a similar figure: Revelation 18:21) That drowning was not a Jewish punishment does not mean that it was never utilized by Jews nor by others! (Cf. Antiquities, XIV, 15, 10; XV, 3, 3) For the man who looks kindly toward anything in himself which proves the ruin of his brother, the millstone would be a profitable investment! Better a millstone than a stumbling-block!

Have you ever heard Jesus use stronger language than this? The great crimes against humanity and social sins are not denounced in sterner language. The heinousness of putting a temptation to sin in the path of weak disciples surpasses the outrageousness of murder or suicide, in that, in the same act of wounding the conscience of the little one, the person dooms the soul of the other and actually defaces all that is Christ like in his own nature. Jesus must speak frankly, because most would tend to consider it a minor thing to cause one of these little ones to stumble, because of the relative unimportance of the person against whom the offence is committed. (What I did won-'t matter much, because the other person is only a.) Jesus-' purpose in pronouncing the death sentence preferable is to bring the careless up short face to face with God's justice: if the smallest kindness shown the least disciple will not go unrewarded (Mark 9:41; cf. Matthew 10:42), then the apparently most insignificant scandal ruining the least disciple will not go unpunished either. We must feel the outrageous barbarity and heinousness of ruining a person's character by being the reason they do what they know is evil. What a horrible reality to which to awaken! The question is not, what if only one lowly person should be damned because of my bad influence, but, how many have already gone down the drain because of my warped representation of Jesus Christ? How much do I already owe my Lord? (See on Matthew 18:24.) But there is hope of mercy: that such a fate can be avoided is evident from what follows.

That Jesus has not left the theme of true greatness in the Kingdom is evident from the consideration that, although these little ones are to be cherished for Christ's sake, yet to be in any sense the enemy of even one of them is to be judged worthy of the most horrible death, and none on earth are to be more highly respected than they! Can anyone reasonably aspire to an importance or greatness superior to this?

See Matthew 18:22-35 for Fact Questions.