The Lost Children
Mark 9:42-50
Have you ever had someone intentionally try to trip you up?
“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 hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell., And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched. “For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”- Mark 9:42-50
Jesus is talking about the little ones, the innocents among us, who we usually consider to be children, but people can be innocent and naïve at any age.
He alludes to punishment for such a crime as causing one to stumble, and he proposes some fairly gruesome measures to avoid repeating one’s sins.
He wants to shock us into seeing how important this is to him and to the Father.
What is he really talking about here?
He is giving us a lesson in power and control. We have the power to inflict pain on others, or to cause them to fail. This means we are in control of the situation, and that control has responsibilities and consequences.
Should we use our power to harm people, especially innocent people who trust us implicitly, we will have hell to pay.
And that same power must be used to control our own actions.
Jesus has his disciples focus on the children, because they are the most trusting. The ones they trust the most are their parents. So, when Jesus takes a child and puts it among them to emphasize his point, I assume the parent is nearby, approving what he is doing.
His overly dramatic remedies for sin, cutting off qa hand, or plucking out an eye, are designed to frighten. They are attention getters.
They are reminders of ancient ritual punishments, which some may say were quite effective. Cutting off a hand for stealing is one example.
Is he advocating that form of brutality? I don’t think so. But he is trying to make a point.
We all have responsibilities for those in our care. If your child runs away, there is a good chance he or she will fall into the wrong hands.
The parable of the Prodigal Son reminds us of that. But we don’t hold the father accountable for the son’s actions. The father does, though. He waits for his son’s return and praises God that he is okay.
With the recent focus on child sex abuse cases, the problem of lost children comes to light once again. It was a problem in Jesus’ day, and it is a problem today.
Power corrupts, and in many ways, we are all responsible for its impact on the innocent ones.
It makes me wonder if the radical approaches Jesus proposed should be employed by those of us who cannot control ourselves.
He does put the responsibility for restraint on the one who abuses their power, though, and not on those who bring that person to judgment. The ultimate judge is God.
Can we wait for God to handle these abusers?
That is at the heart of everything, isn’t it? We think punishment will prevent the crime, but it doesn’t. It just makes it go underground.
More to come...