By Tim Peace

Jesus once said to his disciples, “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. So watch yourselves” (Luke 17:1-3a).

The passage I just mentioned finds its home in a section of some of the more difficult sayings Jesus uttered. The sayings are so challenging and so seemingly tricky to thematically tie together that the heading over this particular passage of the Bible I’m looking at simply says, “Some Sayings of Jesus.”

Interestingly, though, what makes these particular sayings difficult is not that they are challenging to interpret but difficult to stomach. When Jesus speaks these words, they don’t sound like the Jesus we think we know.

I mean, he is a nice guy, after all.

The truth is, to grasp the Jesus of Scripture, we must meet him on his terms and in his totality. The “nice” parts must be taken with the harsh.

In this passage, what Jesus is saying is simply this: I care enough about people following me and staying on that path to state it bluntly and with a warning.

Jesus acknowledges that opportunities for stumbling abound, yet he contends that the prevalence of stumbling opportunities doesn’t make participation in creating them okay.

And that’s where nice Jesus turns fiery: He declares, “it would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.”

He concludes a stern warning, “watch yourselves.”

The scholarly community has often debated the meaning of the adjectival phrase “little ones.” It could refer to children, it could refer to Jesus’ disciples (which it does when the phrase is used again, later in Matthew 18:6), and it could refer to the poor. It likely means all of the above. The phrase is spoken as teaching directed at his disciples, and Jesus is teaching with more than just the twelve present.

The point Jesus is making is simple: If you cause someone to stumble, the judgment you’ll receive will be so severe that it’d be preferable to be tossed in the sea with a millstone around your neck. In Jesus’ time, the sea was considered a dangerous place more than a lovely vacation getaway (although some of Jesus’ disciples would be accustomed to it, given their line of work as fishermen). So, to be tossed in the sea with no ability to escape would have been a scary proposition.

The NIV, which I’ve quoted above, gets the proper sense on the last part of the passage, “watch yourselves.” Some translations render the phrase “be on guard,” but that weakens the seriousness of Jesus’ command. He’s not telling people to look out for themselves. Instead, he’s warning them not to become what he’s just described. Do not cause others, especially the “little ones” of this world, to stumble.

I write all of this for a simple reason. We’ve been talking about equipping the next generation, and it’s essential to realize that the topic isn’t one that we just thought would be nice since Mother’s Day occurs in May.

Instead, we speak about investing in the “little ones” because it mattered to our Lord and Savior. And, it wasn’t simply something he said to be friendly, so we could paint pictures of long-haired Jesus holding little Johnny and laughing with little Susie. Instead, Jesus spoke about it sternly: You better not cause one of these little ones to stumble.

Too often in this world, the ire of our collective disdain gets placed on the youth because they just won’t stay in line.

We might want to change our tune.

According to Jesus, the onus for equipping the next generation isn’t on their propensity for failure; it’s on our ability to cause them to stumble.

So, watch out. Be careful. Be mindful of how you treat the little ones.

Jesus is watching.