The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” [Genesis 3:12-13 (NIV)]
Just as we must not become stumbling blocks to others on their faith journey, we must be cautious of the stumbling blocks we encounter on ours. The Greek word usually translated as “stumbling block” was skandalon. It originally referred to the stick that served as the trigger for a snare trap but, eventually, scandalon developed two meanings. It was both a snare or trap that catches unsuspecting prey as well as something that trips a person and causes them to stumble and fall—in other words, a stumbling block. In both cases, the purpose of the scandalon is to catch its victim unaware!
In the guise of a serpent, Satan certainly didn’t look dangerous when presenting himself to Eve. Remember, this was before God cursed the serpent with crawling on its belly and groveling in the dust for as long as it lived and God had not yet declared enmity between mankind and snakes. To the naïve Eve, Satan probably seemed as cute, charming, and harmless as Martin the Gecko with the Cockney accent in Geico’s commercials!
Indeed, temptation is seductive and rarely does our tempter appear to be the adversary he or she truly is. The lovely Delilah didn’t look like a greedy schemer who would sell out Samson for 5,500 pieces of silver. It was Jacob’s loving mother who suggested he steal Esau’s blessing from Isaac and it was Abraham’s beloved wife who suggested he bypass God’s timing and bed Hagar. Job’s wife is the one who told him to curse God and die. When Peter told Jesus to refuse crucifixion, that temptation also came from someone Jesus loved and trusted.
If a scandalon looked as dangerous and deadly as it is, it wouldn’t be effective—the intended prey would flee in terror before succumbing to it. Satan is no fool; if he arrived at our doorstep looking like the deceitful conniver he is, we’d never let him in. Instead, he finds ways to use people, often those we’d least suspect, even people we admire or love, to act as stumbling blocks to our faith. A good snare is misleading and, with the right bait, deceptively attractive. If you ask a recovering addict, they’ll tell you that first snort of cocaine or heroin didn’t come from a wigged-out junkie in a back alley; it came from a friend!
Earlier this week, I wrote about not being a stumbling block to someone else’s faith. It’s not enough, however, not to be a scandalon. We must learn how to recognize those stumbling blocks that ever so subtly lie in our path. Not every bad idea comes from someone we think of as “bad;” many come from our nearest and dearest. Indeed, stumbling blocks and temptations usually come in a pleasant package and without a warning label. While Satan may skulk around like a hungry lion, he often looks a great deal like a cute innocent kitten. But, as any mouse caught in a trap would tell us (were he able), that bite of cheese isn’t worth it!
We must not regard who speaks, so much as what is spoken; we should learn to know the devil’s voice when he speaks in a saint as well as when he speaks in a serpent. [Matthew Henry]
Having witnessed Jesus’ God-like power over nature when He walked on water, the disciples recognized Him as “the Son of God!” [Mat 14:32] Recognizing Jesus’ divinity, however, did not mean they understood He was the Messiah. While Jesus’ power to heal, multiply food, still storms, and walk on water implied a godlike nature, most 1st century Jews didn’t expect the Messiah to be divine. Expecting a righteous judge and a great political and military leader coming from the lineage of David, they assumed he would be a human being. So, when Jesus asked His disciples who people thought He was, they said John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or another one of the prophets—godly men who performed miracles, spoke of judgment, and called the people to return to covenant faithfulness.
With few exceptions, when we find mention of pride in Scripture, it has a negative connotation. It refers to arrogance, conceit, disrespect, haughtiness, and effrontery. Often called stubborn, insolent, willful, and selfish, prideful people don’t fare well in Scripture. Consider Pharaoh whose pride made him stubbornly defy the power of God; as a result, his entire nation suffered plague after plague, he lost his eldest son, and his entire army was decimated. Lucifer’s insolence and pride got him evicted from heaven. Nebuchadnezzar’s conceitful boasting resulted in the king living as a field animal and eating grass for seven years! When arrogant King Uzziah overstepped boundaries and burned incense in Temple (something only priests could do), the proud king became an outcast leper. Indeed, “pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.” [Proverbs 16:18]
Built by her husband’s grandfather in the 1920s, my friend’s house was filled with much of the original furniture. Many pieces (like the restored grand piano) were valuable antiques but decades of use had taken their toll on others. Although the beautiful little mahogany side chair looked solid, a note saying “Broken—do not use” rested on it. Pretty as it was, the chair was useless and an invitation to disaster. Should the warning go unnoticed, some unknowing person could end up sprawled on the floor surrounded by splintered wood.
In my last post, I pondered why Jesus chose the men he did as his apostles. As we enter Holy Week and the events leading to the Lord’s arrest and crucifixion, I wonder specifically about Judas Iscariot. We don’t know what Jesus saw in Judas when he was chosen as one of the twelve or even what was in Judas’ heart in the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. We only know that discontent, ambition, and greed had entered his treacherous heart by the end.
