Today’s reading is Mark 9.
Whoever causes one of these littles ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.
–Mark 9:42 (ESV)
Tempting and dropping stumbling blocks are a big deal to Jesus. Jesus says it is better to die than cause someone else to sin.
The word translated “causes…to sin” is “skandalizo.” We get our word “scandalize” from it. Of course, our modern use of “scandalize” has diverged greatly from this ancient one. Today, we scandalize by shocking or horrifying others through some some improper or immoral behavior. However, in Jesus’s vocabulary, we scandalize others by tempting them to improper or immoral behavior.
Certainly it is awful to scandalize others. But Jesus doesn’t stop there. He moves from scandalizing others to scandalizing ourselves. Better to throw ourselves into the sea tied to a millstone than scandalize others. Likewise, it is better to cut off our feet and hands or pluck out our eyes than to allow them to scandalize us.
It would be an awful scandal if we were unable to be part of the kingdom. And it is better to be part of the kingdom while lame, crippled, or blind than to be thrown into hell completely whole.
Sin matters. Let us not think because we are in Christ we can sin indiscriminately. The wages of sin is death. Let us take up arms against sin in our own lives. Let us take up arms against causing others to sin.
Are you fighting sin?
Today’s reading is Mark 10.
PODCAST!!!
PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family
What do you want to share with others from Mark 9?
Read the Bible 