Luke 17:1 “in a snailshell”
Monday of the Thirty-Second Week in Ordinary Time
©️2022 Gloria M. Chang
Jesus said to his disciples, “Things that cause sin will inevitably occur, but woe to the person through whom they occur. It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.“
Luke 17:1-2 (NABRE)
And Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach said to his talmidim, It is impossible for the nisayon (temptation) to sin not to come, but oy through whom it comes. It is better for him if a millstone is hung around his neck and he had been thrown into the sea than that he should cause a michshol for these little ones.
Luke 17:1-2 (Orthodox Jewish Bible)
Snares and Forks in the Road
In a world created to return love for Love, it is “impossible” (anendekton) for “snares” (skandala) not to come. The Greek word skandalon, usually translated as “temptation,” “offense,” or “stumbling block,” means “the trigger of a trap” (see HELPS Word-studies). Human desire in a state of vacillation necessarily faces a fork in the road. Sin strays from the path, “missing the mark” (the literal meaning of “sin” in Hebrew and Greek).
Woe to the Tempter
Forks in the road—objects of desire in competition with God—belong to the infrastructure of this probationary life. But “woe” (ouai, “an expression of grief or denunciation”) to those who deliberately prowl about seeking the ruin of souls. In the severest words of condemnation, Jesus declares that it is better for a tempter to drown in the sea with a millstone around his neck than for him to lead little ones astray.
’Tis impossible for snares not to spring,
But woe to those who prowl about luring.
Traditional Chinese Translation
《試探者有禍了》
設圈套絆倒人的事是不可避免的，
但是那些四處徘徊要引誘人的有禍了。
Luke 17:1
Chinese Standard Bible (Traditional)
那些使人絆腳的事必然出現，
不過使它出現的人有禍了。