better to have large
millstone around neck and be
drowned in depths of sea
I grew up in the Baptist Evangelical Church.
Church on Sunday at 9:30 am for Sunday School, Morning service at 10:45 am and Evening church at 7 p.m.
Youth group / Awana on Monday.
Tuesday After School Bible Club on Tuesday after school.
Children’s Choir and Prayer Meeting on Wednesday.
If there was one thing stressed for kids at my Church is was the love of Christ, not just for everyone, but for children, the little children in particular.
It was comforting to know that Jesus liked kids.
When I was 9, I was called in front of the assembled Church body and awarded a Bible for a year of perfect Sunday Scholl attendance.
You got a Bible your first year and a pin to wear for the 2nd year.
The little round pin had an opening to display the 2 and after that you got little gold disks to swap in the 3 and so on.
We had a drawer full of pins at home.
It seems to me that my sister Lisa was the only person anyone knew who got into double digits for years of perfect attendance. That didn’t take into account my Uncle Bud whose had perfect his attendance starting in around 1920 until something called World War 2 came along.
I still have my Bible.
It was King James English of course and it had a few illustrations scattered through its pages.
One of those illustrations was captioned Jesus Blesses the Children.
That scene in the Bible where Jesus blesses the children appears in the New Testament right after another important passage about Jesus and children.
That passage in Matthew, Chapter 18 is an analogy, a promise and … a warning.
He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them.
And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.
“If anyone causes one of these little ones — those who believe in me — to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.
The analogy is “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
The promise is “… whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.“
And the warning is “If anyone causes one of these little ones — those who believe in me — to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.“
With little effort I can bring up in my mind the way my Sunday School Teachers, my Tuesday Bible Club leader and others stressed it would be better to have a millstone … a millstone … A MILLSTONE … around your neck then to have harmed little children.
The point they were making was that Jesus loved children and that meant God loved children.
We were children and we were loved.
And BEWARE anyone who harmed any child.
Now there are those who will say I am misapplying the meaning of the verse but let me tell you something, that with a millstone around my neck being on the line, I will err on the side of caution rather than the idea that I can explain my way out of a millstone around my neck by citing chapter, verse and my notes on biblical application.
A point of view is one thing.
A millstone around my neck is another.
I had no problem visualizing a millstone.
Back in the day on lazy Sunday Afternoons, we would pester my Dad to take to downtown to the old Grand Rapids Public Museum.
The one on Jefferson Street that is now the Grand Rapids City Archives.
When we went, Dad would always park on Washington Street and we would go in by the back entrance.
Along Washington Street were these large round planters … or what I took to be planters as they were giant round stones with a hole in the middle and plants growing out of the hole.
But these planters had a plaque mounted on the side.
It read something like First Millstones brought to Grand Rapids by Louis Campau in 1845.
That isn’t the exact wording but they were the first millstones ever used in the City and the Museum just parked them outside.
I mean, who was going to steal them?
The must have weighed a ton.
I remember one time Dad explained how the millstones were used, powered by a water wheel and they ground wheat into flour.
We looked at them for a bit and Dad said, “Imagine having one of those around your neck.“
He said it a tone of wonderment.
He needed no further explanation.
He had also grown up in the Baptist Church.
And when we heard those stories about millstones, we knew just what Jesus had in mind.
So that leads me to today.
For myself, the warning is pretty clear.
“If anyone causes one of these little ones — those who believe in me — to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.“
Seems pretty cut and dried here.
So I have to ask?
Who would sign up for this?
When you are looking at a situation where it is better to have a millstone around your neck is offered and directions to the nearest boat is pointed out, who says, ME FIRST!
They are looking at a choice for themselves where the millstone IS the good choice.
I look at the picture above and I can see millstones around the necks of all those officers.
How can they not see it?
How can they participate in a scene like that and sleep at night?
I cannot understand that for the life or me or for the life of those officers as well.
Where do they find these people?
I will also point out that there is further warning in the next verse.
Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble!
A warning for all people, including me for letting such a world exist.
And that last bit.
… woe to the person through whom they come!
I just don’t get it.
No Haiku For You 