Cement Shoes

Mark 9:42  Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung round his neck and he were thrown into the sea.


Jesus insists that bad things will happen to people who cause a little one to sin. In some similar accounts he uses the word for children instead of little ones. Little ones could be children but is more likely to be used for the poor or the outcast. We always hear about organized crime sending people to the deep with cement shoes. Jesus instead uses the weight of a millstone but the result would be the same. In Jesus time the sea or the deep was the place where satan dwelled.


As I read and study scripture I become convinced again and again that the Lord of my life will hold me responsible if I do not do everything in my power to take care of the poor, the widows and orphans and the outcast. He looks at me personally, but even more important spoke collectively about the Pharisees, Sadducees, Levites and Herodians. If whole groups holding power deprive those they know are in need Jesus has spoken the same way about the consequences. 


I am satisfied with my personal response to the poor, but I wonder how much I neglect my obligation as a Christian to influence the power structures of my day. I want to avoid my cement shoes.