It’s about other people

There’s a challenging phrase Jesus uses in the gospel of Mark: stumbling block. He tells his followers not to be a stumbling block: the block positioned at someone’s feet that trips them. That causes them to stumble and fall.

While it is easy to think Jesus doesn’t want us to get in each other’s way, I don’t think that’s really the point. It’s about placement, intention, and exploiting ignorance. Don’t make the innocent stumble, he says.

n other words, don’t trip them!

For many, though, the word stumble carries all of the weight. Because we see stumbling as inherently bad. It isn’t.

We stumble. All of us. And we fall down.

We also get back up.

The problem for Jesus isn’t stumbling. It’s pushing your neighbor down to get ahead.