Matthew 18:6

“If anyone causes one of these little ones to sin…”

Matthew assumes that his readers will know what “sin” is. He offers no definition at this point nor does Jesus. I suppose “sin” is anything that is contrary to the will of God. It might be called “rebellion, unbelief, etc.”  Be that as it may, in this parable or story about the kingdom of God, it is front and center. Sin is to be absolutely abhorred.

Jesus asserts that one of the most ungodly things a person can do is to cause someone else to “sin.”  He is referring to a mature person leading a child to sin. This ‘mature issue” has nothing to do with age but with fragility. Causing another to sin is a horrible thing to do in the Kingdom. Do that and you will bind yourself to a mill stone that is then “cast in the depths of the sea,” with you strapped to it of course.  Sin is that horrid in the sight of God and it should be in our eyes as well.

It is bad enough, Jesus taught, to cause another to sin, but it is unequivocally bad to cause yourself to sin!!  In the kingdom of God personal sin requires drastic measures.  “If your eye causes you to sin,” Jesus said, “gouge it out and throw it away.” This is strikingly imperative language.

For Jesus, there is no place for unwashed, uncleaned sin in the life of a child of the kingdom of God.

Concluding his parable of removing a sinful eye, Jesus lays out the rather frightening result of continuing to sin. “It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.”

Without cleansing of the Blood of Jesus, it gets scary, don’t you agree?