Mark 9:42 - Exposition

This verse stands out as the severe antithesis to what has gone before. As he who receives and encourages Christ's little ones and those who are like little children and believe in him, receives him, and so shall receive from him the glorious rewards of Heaven; so, on the contrary, whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in Christ is guilty of deadly sin; and it were better for him if a great millstone ( μύλος ὀνικός )—literally, a millstone so large as to require to be turned by an ass — were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea .