What causes you to stumble?

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 Beach fishing

Gospel of Mark 9: 42-50 (NIV)

⁴² “If anyone causes one of these little ones – those who believe in me – to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung round their neck and they were thrown into the sea. ⁴³ If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. ⁴⁵ And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. ⁴⁷ And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, ⁴⁸ where
  ‘the worms that eat them do not die,
      and the fire is not quenched.’
⁴⁹ Everyone will be salted with fire.
⁵⁰ Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”

This passage quotes Jesus, “If anyone causes one of these little ones – those who believe in me – to stumble, …” Other translations use, “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin,” (ESV) or “If anyone should cause one of these little ones to lose faith in me,” (GNT).

Jesus was not using the term “stumbling block” as a gentle euphemism for sin. Consider the alternatives he gave to cutting off the hand that causes stumbling or the foot that causes stumbling or plucking out the eye that causes stumbling. In each case the alternative was blunt: “to be thrown into hell” with the additional unpleasantness of “the fire (that) never goes out”!

These words tell how seriously Jesus considers it to be if my hand causes me to “stumble”, or if my foot causes me to “stumble”, or if my eye causes me to “stumble”.

We find similar guidance recorded by Matthew and Luke. We find other words as well.

In Matthew 18, verse 6 is similar to Mark 9: 42. The next verse (7) states: “Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come!”

Luke 17: 2 is similar to Mark 9: 42. We read in Luke 17: 1, “Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come.’”

What Matthew, Mark and Luke record Jesus as having said can be summarised this way:

• Woe to the world because of stumbling blocks, because of sin. Occasions for stumbling, that is, temptations to sin are bound to come, but woe to the one by whom those stumbling blocks, those temptations to sin, do come! It would be better for them to be fed to the sharks!”

The essence of Jesus’ teaching here is that, though temptations to sin may be inevitable, the one by whom those temptations come is destined for hell!

We think of those “little ones” who have suffered abuse at the hands of people within the church, clergy and lay. We weep for those abused, who may have been turned away from the Christian faith forever!

May we all resolve to oppose injustice wherever it appears and to support all people who suffer from unjust behaviour, unjust laws or unjust treatment.

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Lord, have mercy.

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 Small boat fishing

Gospel of Mark 9: 30-32 (NIV)

³⁰ They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, ³¹ because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.” ³² But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.

I lost my best mate this past week. I fear that he was “lost”, in the full sense of the word.

He and I had trained together for four years. We were both Army engineers. We served in Vietnam together. We both came home relatively unscathed. We served together in Papua New Guinea and then in the United Kingdom. He was best man at my wedding.

Less than a year ago he learned that, because of a particularly aggressive cancer, he would never walk again. I gave him a pocket New Testament and a large-print Gospel according to Mark. He dutifully read the latter, “because of our friendship, that’s all”.

When I visited him earlier this month, his oncologist had told him that he had another twelve months or so to live. We made plans for a celebration come the end of the year.

On the morning after his death, as I was trekking through the Australian bush, I asked Jesus to have mercy on his soul. I heard this: “My death, when I was delivered into the hands of men, was for your friend as much as it was for you. He had the freedom to choose whether he would accept me or not. I gave him the freedom to make that choice just as I have given it to you. The gift was there; it was entirely up to him what he would do with it. The choice was his.”

Lord Jesus, I hold this man up to you. Eternity without you would be unbearable! He was a faithful husband and a good father. Perhaps he made his peace with you in the final days. Have mercy on his soul. Amen.

Psalm 1: 1-3 (NIV)

¹ Blessed is the one
    who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
    or sit in the company of mockers,
² but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and who meditates on his law day and night.
³ That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
    which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither –
    whatever they do prospers.

Faith and deeds

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 Riverbank fishing

Epistle of James 2: 18-26 (NIV)

¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. ¹⁹ You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that – and shudder.
²⁰ You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? ²¹ Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? ²² You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. ²³ And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness”, and he was called God’s friend. ²⁴ You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.
²⁵ In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? ²⁶ As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

The Apostles’ Creed begins:

I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, …

To this point, somebody from any of the three monotheistic faiths might possibly give assent to this ancient Christian statement of belief. But if we then add, “God’s only Son, our Lord”, assent likely would cease.

We may believe in something but that does not necessarily entail putting full, unreserved trust in that thing. Consider the cry of the impure spirit which possessed a man in Capernaum’s synagogue on the Sabbath: “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are – the Holy One of God!” (Mark 1: 24). The impure spirit recognised Jesus, believed that Jesus was the Holy One of God but remained totally opposed to Jesus even though the impure spirit could not avoid Jesus’ absolute authority.

James made a similar point in the passage quoted above: “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that – and shudder” (verse 19).

Believing on its own is not enough. Returning to consideration of the Apostles’ Creed, we may believe Jesus to be “God’s only Son” but, if we have not accepted him as “our Lord”, we allow that there are other people or other things in our lives that take precedence over the lordship of Jesus Christ.

If Jesus is truly “our Lord”, then all that we think, say and do will be pleasing to him; it will be in total accord with his will for us, corporately and individually. Our faith in Jesus Christ, faith that is the inevitable consequence of having him as Lord of our lives, will manifest itself in words and deeds that are a testament to his love.

The Apostle Paul has taught of the need for such faith. He wrote to the Christians in Rome (10: 9), “if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Paul recognised that it is the Holy Spirit living in us that enables us to have such faith: “no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12: 3b).

We pray for the Holy Spirit’s indwelling always so that we may hold such faith and show it through our words and deeds.

Judgement without mercy

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 Jetty fishing

Epistle of James 2: 1-10 (NIV)

¹ My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favouritism. ² Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. ³ If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” ⁴ have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
⁵ Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? ⁶ But you have dishonoured the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? ⁷ Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?
⁸ If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbour as yourself,” you are doing right. ⁹ But if you show favouritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. ¹⁰ For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
¹¹ For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.
¹² Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, ¹³ because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

James referred to “the royal law found in Scripture”. He was pointing to Leviticus 19: 18, “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbour as yourself. I am the LORD.” Our Lord Jesus Christ taught that this verse is one of the two great commandments (Mark 12: 31).

Obedience to this law forbids that we show favouritism. Love for one’s neighbour, demonstrated in Jesus’ famous parable regarding the man who fell among thieves, is required regardless of a neighbour’s race or religion. According to Jesus, preferential treatment is unacceptable whether by governments, individual citizens or members of his church. But can any one of us stand before the judge of all the world and be considered to be without blemish according to his law? Every human person has failed in some respect to observe that law in its entirety. How can it be a law that gives freedom (verse 12)?

For every one of us there is no alternative but to call upon the mercy of God.

We know God to be merciful because his mercy has been demonstrated for humankind in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. There are conditions, however, for receiving his mercy. James wrote, “judgement without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful” (verse 13). Jesus expressed it positively: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (Matthew 5: 7). Being merciful to others demands obedience to “the royal law”, that we love others as we love ourselves. That requires followers of Jesus Christ also to be merciful to ourselves, regardless of our flawed pasts, for we know we have a redeemer who loves us.

Religion

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 River fishing

Epistle of James 1: 17-27 (NIV)

¹⁷ Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. ¹⁸ He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
¹⁹ My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, ²⁰ because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. ²¹ Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent, and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
²² Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. ²³ Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror ²⁴ and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. ²⁵ But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues in it – not forgetting what they have heard but doing it – they will be blessed in what they do.
²⁶ Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. ²⁷ Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

“Are you religious?” In a Western country in the twenty-first century this can be a “loaded” question. The questioner has either a negative perception of what it is to be the least little bit “religious” or a preconceived but incomplete notion of what “religion” means. To reply with a “yes” would result in being “pigeon-holed” where further qualification or nuance is both unwelcome and unwanted.

In the minds of many, to be “religious” is to adopt an outward show of sanctity which might not accurately represent the inner person. If the Church of God is regarded as filled with hypocrites rather than with sinners forgiven by God because of their faith in Jesus Christ, it fails to be attractive to those on the “outside”.

The author of this Epistle, widely but not universally regarded to be James the brother of our Lord, has presented a guide for moral conduct which the Church of God would disregard at its peril. We are not to take any one verse as sufficient in its depiction of how every Christian person should behave. Rather, the entirety of the Epistle can be relied upon as a helpful though incomplete guide to godly behaviour.

The individualism championed by society today contributes to a sense of personal autonomy, accompanied often by an assumption of self-entitlement. Any law that limits one’s autonomy potentially generates resentment. James desired his readers to “(look) intently into the perfect law that gives freedom”. This law of the new covenant released people from the onerous and near-impossible challenge of living in perfect accord with the Law handed down through Moses. Jesus taught and demonstrated the two great commandments: to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love neighbours as we love ourselves (Mark 12: 29-31). That gives freedom because it involves living in accordance with God’s will, which every Christian person loves to do. The Christian is thereby blessed (verse 25), freed from trying to live a “religious” life.