Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“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.”
NL Daily Devotion for Thursday, February 27, 2020
by R. Fergus Moir, Clergy Stuff
The term “stumbling block” goes way back. It originates in Leviticus as part of God’s laws in the context: “You shall not…put a stumbling block before the blind.” (Lev 19:14) Can you imagine? God actually had to put a law in place to forbid putting a rock in front of a blind man to make him fall down. How rotten were these people?
(Then again, my daughter enjoys few things more than watching Fail Videos on YouTube—you know, the ones where kids try to land skateboard jumps and land on their ears, for example? Of course, the difference is that these people make the decisions to do stupid things on their own and they happen to get caught on video. Deliberately causing a person with a disability to get hurt is the furthest thing from amusing.)
Jesus is clear that a putting a stumbling block in front of someone has broader implications than putting down a literal rock. It’s doing anything that causes another person to turn away from God, and it’s a serious offense. What’s scariest about that now is that it’s easy to do just that without realizing it.
Here in the States, I fully participate in an economic system whose entire function is to put money and things and celebrities in the place of God in people’s lives. Am I doing or saying things in the course of my daily living that are directly or indirectly placing stumbling blocks before others, or even myself? It’s definitely worth thinking about!
Where might my participation in society be leading others to turn away from God?
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