NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Part II

Verse 5: “Whoever welcomes a little child like this for my sake is welcoming Me.”

Here is another instance where we must determine what Jesus is implying by saying that to accept a little child, like the one standing in front of them, is the same as accepting Him. On other occasions, Jesus used people, places, and things to illustrate spiritual truths. But there is no evidence that He insisted that His followers accept a child looking exactly like the one He placed before them, which would require the same color of hair, eyes, height, weight, and gender. Rather, He was talking about the characteristics and essence of a child. Also, Jesus was not referencing the child’s age. He wanted them to see this child as a symbol of the innocence we see in someone who needs mentoring so that they can learn the difference between right and wrong, good and bad. Jerome gives it his interpretation: “Whoever lives so as to imitate Christ’s humility and innocence, in Him Christ is reproduced.”¹

Another Early Church interpreter of Scripture offers his commentary: “Here the Lord not only repressed the apostles’ thoughts but also checked the ambition of believers throughout the whole world so that he might be great who wanted to be least. For with this purpose Jesus used the example of the child, that what he was by nature, we through our holy living might become—innocent, like children innocent of every sin…Therefore, what children are in their simplicity, let us become through a holy way of life, as children innocent of sin. And quite rightly, one who has become a child innocent of sin in this way is greater in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes such a person will be welcoming Christ.”²

We must remember, Jesus was answering the question of who is the greatest in the Kingdom of God. So to me, this child represents one who does what they are told to do and respects those in authority. As such, in the kingdom of heaven, to offer one’s time, help, love, mercy, and kindness to even the simplest of God’s children is showing the same kind of esteem and honor as would be shown to Christ Jesus Himself. We see this clearly in what Jesus then has to say:

Verse 6: If one of these little children believes in me, and someone causes that child to do wrong, it will be very bad for that person. It would be better for them to have a millstone tied around their neck and be drowned in the open sea.”

Again, by keeping this in context, Jesus is not specifically referring to the age of a child, but to the naiveté and open-mindedness of a child. So we must understand our Lord’s explanation by comparing the innocent trust of a child to that of a new believer. So often there is an attempt, once a person comes to the knowledge of salvation through Christ, to pump their minds full of suggestions and motivations on how to maintain their salvation, and dump so much instruction and learning on their heads that they wither like a flower under too much heat.

But the Master is focused on something much worse, and that is persuading a new believer that some of the carnal things left over from their old nature are still permissible because all that matters is the soul. But that’s not all, He also includes those former friends of the newly born again child of God who are still in the world, and are pressuring and cajoling the young believer into returning to a sinful way of life.

As it relates to having a millstone tied around one’s neck and thrown into the sea, it was common knowledge that during a battle between Philip son of Amyntas, and Onomarchus the Phocian. Onomarchus had previously defeated Philip in two battles but was now meeting him again in a pitched battle with the Thessalonians in Thessaly. But Onomarchus lost and hanged, with the rest of his followers drowned in the sea as temple-robbers. It was known at that time that such drownings were due to stones being attached to the individuals’ bodies.³ Scholars tell us that this mode of punishment appears to have also been practiced in Syria, especially as punishment for killing one’s parents or relatives. We also learn, when reading the Lexicon called, Suidas, and the Equities of Aristophanes, that it was customary to do this in Greece. So, Jesus was not blindsiding His listeners with an unfamiliar factor.

The point here is that Jesus was saying that culprits who lead young believers into sin will be treated as worthless savages. This was not new, God Himself had also warned about the mistreatment of His children, “If anyone even touches you, it is as if they did it to the pupil of my eye. Watch and see how I will punish them.”⁴ In other words, to harm God’s children is like poking Him in the eye. When the prophet Samuel was a young lad living in the home of the high priest Eli, he witnessed how Eli’s sons were committing offenses that led many believers into debauchery. Then we learn, “Eli told his sons. ‘It is an awful thing to make the Lord’s people sin. Ordinary sin receives heavy punishment, but how much more this sin of yours that has been committed against the Lord!’ But they wouldn’t listen to their father, for the Lord was already planning to kill them.”⁵

Certainly, our Lord’s disciples were acquainted with such practices and warnings. Also, when someone spoke of the “depths of the sea,” they were referring to the deepest part of the sea. I’ve often heard it referred to as being “out in the deep.” Most scholars also take this as a reference to the same kind of punishment that Pharaoh and his army suffered. One Jewish commentator cited this when he said: “Therefore when wicked Pharaoh exposed his pride before the Lord, and, being conceited in his heart, chased after the people of the sons of Israel. Their horses and their chariots He threw and buried in the Sea of Reeds.⁶

Also, with reference to a “millstone,” we find an explanation given in Jewish writings that this was: “the stone turned by a donkey at a mill.”⁷ We see using a donkey in this manner in the words of a venerable Jewish Rabbi’s instructions: “You may trim the hooves of a donkey that works in a mill.”⁸ However, there were various mills used by farmers and housewives that had different sized stones. In fact, in the Jewish Mishnah, we find several mentioned: “lower millstone,” “hand-mill”, and “olive-grinders mill.”⁹ But here’s a clue: in order for the stone to be placed on the shoulders, the beam-hole would need to be large enough for a human head.

But Jesus mentioned it being “hung around the person’s neck.” That then would only require a hole large enough for a rope. But in any case, either one would be like a death sentence. But we also find an interesting comparison between the use of a millstone by Rabbi Judah and Rabbi Johanan. Rabbi Judah said: “The religious guideline is, A man first marries and then studies.” Then Rabbi Johanan replies: “Yes, one will study the Torah like a millstone around the neck!”¹⁰ I’m sure, that’s not what Jesus meant as punishment! But it does reveal that even the Jews felt like trying to obey every letter of the Law was like carrying a millstone around on their necks.

Bishop Hilary asks this question: “How should we understand this spiritually? That is the deeper question. The millstone stands for blind drudgery, for pack animals are driven around in a circle with their eyes closed. And we frequently find the Gentiles referred to with the racial slur, donkey. The Gentiles do not know what they do. They are in ignorance, and their life’s work is like blind labor. Not so the Jews. For them, the path of knowledge has been set forth in the law. Insofar as they gave offense to Christ’s apostles, it was more just for them to be sunk in the sea with a donkey’s millstone tied around their neck.”¹¹

But according to Jerome, who wrote some 40 years later, when Jesus said it would be better for a person to have a great millstone fastened around his neck, “He is following the rite practiced in the provinces and telling how among ancient Jews this was the punishment for major crimes, that they be sunk in the sea with a rock attached to them. It is better for him because it is much better to receive a short, quick punishment for one’s sin than to be reserved for eternal tortures. For the Lord will not punish the same fault twice.”¹²

So to add all of this up, Jesus was talking about the danger of anyone who misleads or deliberately trips up a new believer and the penalty they deserve. His choice of having a millstone hung around their necks and taken out in a boat and dropped overboard was not suggesting that this becomes the exact form of punishment inflicted, but that such an execution leaves the guilty person with no way to save themselves from drowning. We might also surmise, this was not done after they committed the crime of deceiving the new believer, but before. In other words, their case before the judgment seat of God would fare better if they were stopped short of doing such an evil deed, rather than after it was done.