You are now, each one of you, and you have always been since you were baptized, one of these "little ones" who believe. Since the name of Christ was laid on you, and you were marked with his cross, he has claimed you as one of his "little ones" of which the text speaks, "these little ones who believe in me." At the time Jesus said these words there were only "little ones" for Jesus had not been around long enough to have big ones, people who had been believers in him for a lifetime, or for half a lifetime. In any case, to the eyes of God, and to the eyes of the Son of God, all of us mortals must seem to be little, to be "little ones."

The point of all this is that even as one of Christ's little ones you are big enough to know the facts of life. There are "stumbling blocks" which can be big enough to shake the faith of believers, and these stumbling blocks may be on your pathway. There is a possibility that little ones on "the way" may stumble. This text states that fact as a warning. There are people who, because they are evil, or because they simply don't care about the Father or the Son, may deliberately or carelessly put such stumbling blocks in the path of the children.

The text warns such people against causing a little one to stumble. "If any one of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea."

But you're a big girl now. You're a big boy now. You have matured. Does that mean you can look out for yourself, you do not have to be careful? Back then Jesus took a little child in his arms and used it for his welcoming illustration. Then, no doubt, he handed the child back to the parents. Your parents not only took you up in their arms and presented you to God in Holy Baptism, but they also took you back, took you home. They made sure that you grew in faith and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. From a child you have known the sacred writings that have instructed you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 3:15). As a child of God you have been "sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever." This is also true about those of you who have been baptized as adults, although the sequence may have been different. In either case, fellow "little ones," you who are big boys now, big girls now, you should face up to this fact of your lives, the fact that you might cause your own self to stumble.

What then? If the preferred treatment of deep sea drowning is prescribed for the stumbler, what about the fate of the stumblee? That comes clear in the next verses. They spell out direct warnings to each one of us little ones. Your own hand might cause you to stumble, your own foot, your own eye. Without anyone pushing you, you might wobble on the way. That means you may fail in faith. A great millstone and the deep sea are the preferred treatment for those who cause stumbling. What does our Lord's warning tell us of the fate of those who trip up themselves?

A reward is promised to the faithful, to those who do the good works of faith, like giving a cup of cold water to someone who bears the name of Christ. Jesus even reaches out to those who do good works of power in his name who are not part of his group of followers. "Whoever is not against us is for us." And their reward? This text does not describe it, but merely says they will "by no means lose the reward." Previously Jesus had said that anyone who welcomes a little child in his name also is welcoming him, and then added that actually it is God the Father who sent him who is welcomed. Their reward, then, is everything that could be imagined from living with God as a welcomed guest in one's life. It would include all earthly divine companionship and all heavenly blessedness. That's easy to take.

But what about those who fall by their own carelessness by the wayside? What will be the result for those who stumble? You're a big boy now; you're a big girl now. The alternative that lies before those who stumble is a place where "their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched." It's hell, little ones.

The modern mind would discount all this, especially the graphic details. But just as a reward of being with God is as good as it gets, so the result of stumbles and ultimately a final fall is being without God. And that is as bad as it gets. Our only wise conclusion must be, "Don't stumble. Don't fall." We are not able to control all the forces of evil that would trip us up; but we should surely heed the warning, "Don't trip yourself up." The last words of this text speak to this warning: "For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another." The probable meaning of these words is: "Discipline yourself, or be disciplined." Salt is a preservative. "Have salt in yourselves" then means "preserve yourself." There are things not to do -- with your hands or your feet or your eyes. James gives us that kind of advice and spells out details. "Resist the devil. Draw near to God. Cleanse your hands. Purify your hearts. Don't judge your neighbor. Don't boast in your arrogance" (James 4:7-17). But there are also admonitions to do things. Take the opportunities of giving a cup of water to drink to those who bear the name of Christ, and work your way up from there. Use your hands to help, your feet to walk the extra mile, your eyes to show the way to others. Discipline yourself or prepare to be disciplined -- "Be salted with fire."

This is the reality which Jesus Christ himself sets before us. It ought to give us a deeper awareness of why our Lord, our God, was so determined, so ready to endure all the burning agony and punishment of hell for us, was so unstumbling in walking the way of righteousness in vicarious obedience for us. "From all sin, from all error, from all evil; from the cunning assaults of the devil; from an unprepared and evil death," we pray in the litany, "Good Lord, deliver us." Our Lord has. But evil still is, within and without. Our prayer, "Deliver us from evil," seeks continual help against the forces that would fell us and against our own weaknesses that would cause us to fall.

What chance do we have, we whose hearts fail for fear, whose strength wanes, who shuffle along the way, scarcely getting one foot in front of the other, always in danger of stumbling, often stumbling and falling? You are, we are, big children of God now, it's true. But to God, remember, we are always the "little ones" who believe. How do we get back to innocence when over and over again we stumble into un-faith and un-worthiness? How can we who have taken the big falls get back to being the little ones of God? When once we have stumbled -- and we have over and over again -- what use to cry, "Out, damned spot! Out, I say." "All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten" our hands, or our feet, or our eyes. How hollow sounds the claim, "Every day in every way I am getting better and better." How much more realistic, although even more impossible for us, are the lines from Eizabeth Akers Allen: Backwards, turn backwards, O Time, in your flight,Make me a child again just for tonight.

Matthew's account of this gospel ends with the words, "It is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost" (Matthew 18:14). None of us little ones wants that either. But the mystery of "why some, not others" remains. Think of Judas and be very sober about this. Think of Peter and be saved.

Judas thought he could betray and still be Christ's disciple. Jesus knew and Jesus let Judas know that he knew: "One of you will betray me." Judas was warned. Jesus said, "It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it into the dish." He gave it to Judas. "He immediately went out. And it was night" (John 13:21-30). Just ... tonight ... Jesus tried to make Judas a child again that night, to make him just again. Judas would not.

Jesus knew and let Peter know that he knew what even Peter did not know. Peter was warned. When the cock crowed and Peter had denied him three times, Jesus looked through the night and his eyes found Peter's. Peter remembered. Peter wept bitterly. And Jesus made Peter a child again that very night.

Judas cried, too, but not as a little one cries. Who can understand his error? What we must focus on is God's offered love, a love that moves us to tears and back to childhood. God has made a way for each of us, no matter what the stumble, to become a child again. What do you do when your child comes weeping bitterly, wishing that what has been done might be undone, sobbing, "Backwards, turn backwards, O Time in your flight"? You hug your child. You weep with your child. You love your child. God deals with us as his children, his little ones. Be hugged. Accept his love. Come home again. Be a child again, God's little one.

And do not forget: God accepts help. James writes, "You should know that whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner's soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins." He urges us wanderers from the truth, "Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective" (James 5:20, 16). And as God picks us up from where we have fallen, we can add a word: "The prayer of the made righteous is powerful and effective."

Even on the night in which Judas betrayed him, Jesus showed the love of God for us all. Even before he gave his body and his blood on the cross, he gave them to us with the bread and wine of the last supper. In the upper room he prayed the Father to keep those disciples, to keep all of us, safe, to keep us from the evil one. He said to them, "I have said these things to you to keep you from stumbling" (John 16:1). That night they all did stumble. But after his resurrection he appeared to some of the disciples before breakfast on the shore where they had been fishing. He asked them, "Children, you have no fish, have you?" It was more statement than question. They had not. Then the miracle of the great draft of fish. He comes to us, too, after our times of stumbling and weeping. He knows; he says, "You have no strength, no saltiness, have you?" He has no need of an answer. He performs the greatest of miracles, our restoration as God's little ones, God's children.

All he asked of Peter, of all the disciples, all he asks of us, is "Lovest thou me?" And, as if time has turned backward, all is as it has been before: he our Lord, we his faithful followers.

He turns backwards, turns backwards, time in its flight. He makes us, each one of us, his child again, not just for a night, but, just, forever!