Verse 42
This verse gives the other side of the idea just expressed. Anyone who discouraged a disciple of Jesus from following Him faithfully could expect severe treatment from God. Probably Jesus used the little child present to illustrate a childlike disciple (Mark 9:36-37; cf. Matthew 18:3-14). Jesus referred to a large donkey-driven millstone (Gr. mylos onikos), not a small one that people turned by hand (Gr. mylos). The Romans had so drowned some insurrectionists in Galilee (cf. Acts 5:37), and a group of the Galileans had so dealt with some of Herod’s supporters. [Note: Ibid., p. 346; Suetonius, De Vita Caesarum 1:67; Josephus, Antiquities of . . ., 14:15:10.] The disciples had probably heard about these events.
"This brief incident stands as a firm rebuke to the spirit of sectarianism. It condemns that exclusive attitude which insists that only those who carry on their work in harmony with our own views and practices can be accepted as really doing God’s work. If they demonstrate that they are on God’s side in the war with Satan, even though their views may be imperfect, they must not be condemned for such work or regarded with abhorrence." [Note: Hiebert, p. 231.]
John evidently learned this lesson well as evidenced by the frequent references to loving one another that appear in his writings.
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