9:42
We have another section heading, but the teaching is related to all the stuff from 9:30 onwards. Jesus refers to those who believe in Him as “one of these little ones” (NIV). We are not to denigrate any believers, there is no worldly hierarchy in the kingdom. Now for very practical reasons there will be leaders, and there will be Christians who are more well known and more prominent than others, but that does not make them better or more important. Naturally a leader should be of good godly character, and is worthy of respect, but actually that should apply to all of us. It is a terrible thing to cause an “unimportant” Christian to stumble. It is an offence against them, an offence against God, and demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of the kingdom. To cause a “little one” to stumble is a most serious error.
9:43-47
These next few verses contain various warnings about how seriously we treat sin. The disciples had been concerned about who was the greatest. The truth is none of us are the least bit great on our own merits.Our biggest problem is our sin, and our greatest concern should be our sinfulness. If the Pharisees had had such an approach, their attitude towards Jesus would have been completely different. All the warnings tell us to take drastic action to avoid sinning. Now Jesus does not mean that we should literally chop our hands off or gouge our eyes out, but we should not mess about with sin, nor expose ourselves to unnecessary temptation. If some course of action does expose us to temptation we should avoid it at all costs.
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