The Lord Jesus was exceedingly kind, so people wondered at His words of grace (Luke 4:2222And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son? (Luke 4:22)). When He spoke of “woe,” or punishment and sorrow for them, it was to warn them that they should remember His words and not do or say wrong things.
He said that offences (wrongs to others) would be done, for He knew they had hearts ready to sin. But He said “Woe” to the one who did wrong, speaking especially of wrong to a child, one innocent and helpless to keep itself from harm. He said, “It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.”
Wrongs Against Little Ones
Millstones were large flat stones, used one upon another, to grind grain for their bread. Such a heavy stone fastened to a man would, of course, cause him to sink and drown in the sea. So the Lord meant it was better for a man to die, than to do wrong to a little child.
This is such a serious warning, it seems meant for ones who know their acts to be wrong. But it warns us all against every wrong act or wrong word to little ones and shows how much the Lord cares how they are treated. Their little minds are ready to believe what is told them, and they do not yet know right from wrong; that is why it is so serious to do them a wrong.
One of the great wrongs to children is to tell them what is not true. Sometimes older brothers and sisters make promises or tell false words to younger ones, thinking “it does not matter” what they say to them, because they do not understand: sometimes they frighten them by saying what is not true at all, and say, “It was just for fun.”
Some little ones are taught to say God’s name without respect, and are kept from hearing of His love or of His words in the Bible, and they grow up without trust in God or in Christ, who died for them.
Forgiveness
Jesus knew that even the disciples who had seen His kind ways would sometimes do or speak wrong things to each other, and He said, “Take heed to yourselves,” which meant to be careful how they treated each other: He called them “brothers,” as though they were one family:
“If thy brother trespass [do a wrong] against thee, rebuke him (tell him the wrong): and if he repent [is sorry], forgive him.”
To forgive means to pardon the wrong, not to hold it in the heart against the other. We might think once in a day enough to forgive, but Jesus said, “If he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.”
So the Lord meant we are to forgive over and over.
Do you suppose these words were only for the disciples, or do we all now need to forgive and to be forgiven? It is not too hard to say, “I repent,” or “I forgive” if we think of the Lord’s words.
Further Meditation
1. What are some the wrongs done against little ones?
2. Forgiving can bring us into fellowship with our forgiving God. Give some examples of people in the Bible who did not forgive and those who did. How does Scripture present the difference in their lives?
3. You would probably be helped by reading The Blessedness of Forgiveness: A Meditation on Psalm 32 by G. V. Wigram.