Dionysus on a Bike

Luke 17:1-4 – 6/27/2026

The ideal of the Christian life is perfection. Jesus himself commanded his disciples to be perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48). This ideal, however, is virtually unobtainable for most in a fallen world. Even with the indwelling Spirit guiding and empowering us, we are so used to surviving in a world that rewards selfishness and greed that most of us are bound to “stumble.” This is not the tragedy it could be. Jesus is faithful and forgiving. Our sins will be forgiven us, as we forgive those who sin against us.

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus recognizes the inevitability of stumbling, of not being perfect. What is not inevitable and what we are to specifically guard against is being the occasion for another person’s stumbling. An obvious lesson here is that we should place others’ well-being ahead of our own moral purity. It is far better for me to fuck up than it is for me to bring another down. A less obvious consequence of this is that moral purity is not the highest value for the Christian. Care for the other out of love, the love commanded by the greatest commandments, is always our highest value. This means that pulling another down with us is by far worse than simply falling ourselves.

Jesus’s central message is not about being perfect or attaining moral purity for its own sake. Care for the others’ well-being is at the center of the Christian life. Everything else is secondary. It’s a simple message that sometimes gets lost in the theological minutia of all the other goods a Christian is to live for and all the evils they are to avoid. It bears repeating that the greatest thing a Christian can do is lift another up, and the worst thing anyone can do is to cause a “little one” to stumble and fall.

Reflections of a Dionysian Lutheran, comments on the daily readings of the Revised Common Lectionary by Justin Marquis