Take care of others

Two very, very good questions for Jersey folk today….. What is it that you might do which could entice a friend of yours to sin? Or entrap him or her into sin? Or what is it – in others – which entices me to sin – which entraps me into sin?

Surely none of us would knowingly want to entrap or entice someone to sin? But Jesus was very clear. He said, “Enticements and entrapments to sin are sure to come….” We Jersey folk can therefore expect to see these enticements and entrapments all around us. What are they? 

Jesus didn’t say. Instead he said, “Woe to the one through whom they come!” So serious is this issue that Jesus added, “It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he would entice or entrap one of these little ones to sin.”

 

Jesus was saying this to his disciples. You would be quite right if you told me to go away and address my questions to Jersey Christians – especially Jersey Christian leaders. They will know. Nevertheless, you may wish to listen in….

Jesus had just finished speaking to the Pharisees about their love of money and their reliance on being children of Abraham. See last week’s Info for Islanders. Their love of money led them to think that they could, with impunity, assist others (for a fee) to break God’s Laws on divorce and on honouring of parents. Their reliance on being descendants of Abraham (and, therefore, being the people of God) supported their practice of ignoring the poor, the ill and the dying. God could feed them if he wished.

Let’s test our original questions on them. What is it – in them – which entices me to sin – which entraps me into sin? 

When religious leaders engage in and support wrong – when they say to sinners “That doesn’t matter, God loves you” – I’m confirmed in my thoughts that I also can do wrong. God loves me. No worries. Adultery? Deceit? OK.

When religious leaders adopt a comfortable and wealthy lifestyle which ignores the poor and the ill and the homeless, I’m led to do the same. When they pursue only their good, why shouldn’t I?  God will look after the poor. And anyway, the poor are undeserving sinners…. Not like me.

Nevertheless Jesus wasn’t going to let his own disciples off the hook. It’s so easy to find fault in others. It’s much harder to see that I might be enticing and entrapping others to sin. He said to them, “Beware your own selves! If your brother or sister sins, reprove him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”

 

Let’s test our original questions on the disciples. What is it – in them – which entices me to sin – which entraps me into sin? 

This could occur in two ways. “If your brother (or sister) sins, reprove him …”  If a Christian fails to reprove sin then his fellow Christian might be enticed or entrapped into sin. Jesus wanted his followers to love one another in this way.

Second, “… and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.” If a Christian does not forgive a fellow Christian who has asked for forgiveness, he is enticing and entrapping that fellow Christian into the belief that God is like them – a God who does not forgive and who does not receive sorrowful sinners and adopt them as sons and daughters.

So Jesus didn’t want his followers to entice or entrap others into believing in a God who is not utterly and completely holy. 

And Jesus also didn’t want his followers to entice or entrap others into turning away from a God who forgives. His only Son said to the repentant, dying thief on the cross ADS 30, “Today, you will be with me in paradise.”