I think one of the worst ways to die would be drowning. The more you struggle the more you realize you can’t hold your breath forever. And then comes the first lung full of water. We are not fish, so that water is violently rejected, and then another lung full comes. And unless you get rescued, the end is near. Not my favorite way to die!
In the ancient world Jews imagined that the pagans would execute using death by drowning as the means. And in the pagan mind the spirit of the person drowned would stay at the place where they entered the water. Their soul would never find rest, so this punishment would be especially disturbing.
Our text talks about having a millstone hung around your neck and then being tossed in the sea to drown. In that time period there were two types of millstones in use. The first was the personal millstone, often used by the women of a family to grind their family’s grain. It was small and portable, kind of like a modern day food processor, but heavy. They could be lifted and moved, but they were still cumbersome.
The other kind of millstone was turned by a donkey and would serve a community. Think grain mill in the Midwest with its grain silos dotting the skyline. These were extremely heavy. It would take a team of animals and men to move it. This is the millstone hung around the neck in our text. It would be impossible to stay afloat with this pulling you down.
So why does Jesus use this picture? Causing someone who believes in Jesus to turn away from Him is about the worst thing anyone could do to another human being. Eternity is at stake. This is no small matter. If you turn away from the only means of getting to heaven, then all is lost.
Jesus uses this picture to push the disciples, and us, to realize how important this matter is. There is no more important connection we can have in life than our connection to Jesus. If this gets cut, we lose everything.
The disciples had stopped someone from outside their immediate circle from acting on Jesus’ behalf to help another person. He wants to stop them dead in their tracks. Their actions are so against what Jesus stands for, that He must be extreme in His illustrations. He must wake them up. He must get their attention.
Are you standing in the way of someone coming to Christ? Do your actions speak louder than your words in sending a contrary message about the sufficiency of Christ’s death and resurrection?
The Arnold Journey 