Luke 17: 1 – 2 Sayings of Jesus Part I

Luke 17: 1 – 2 Sayings of Jesus Part I

He said to his disciples, "Things that cause sin will inevitably occur, but woe to the person through whom they occur. It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.

My version of the Bible mentions "scandalizing the little ones" vs. "causing them to sin". For the first time in any of the gospels to my knowledge Jesus speaks about avoiding scandals. “It would be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone around your neck than give scandal to little ones.” What does Jesus mean? What is a scandal? To me a scandal in an unexpected, unforeseen and damaging behavior – it is an action that not only breaks faith but destroys faith. Given that, I can see why Jesus takes scandal very seriously. Unfortunately, the only current context that I hear about scandal in is the context of the church covering up scandalous behavior (priest sexual abuse) so as to not “scandalize the faithful”. In a sense they were right to fear scandalizing the faithful – it did and does destroy faith. Covering it up, covering up any serious sin, is damaging both to the individual and to the institution. Jesus mission and message was to announce the coming of the Kingdom and to urge all who sought it to repent and turn towards God. In attempting to avoid scandal the church has made a bad situation exponentially worse. For whatever reason – pride, stubbornness - the church and individuals in it have resisted Jesus urging to repent, to seek God’s mercy, to seek the forgiveness of the individuals and the communities affected. I am not at all certain that even now the hierarchy of the Church “gets it”. Until it repents fully I think it will continue to struggle.
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