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“Welcome those who are weak in faith, but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions … Let us therefore no longer pass judgment on one another, but resolve instead never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of another.” –– Romans 14:1, 13
In the sport of track and field there are many races determined by who gets from point A to point B the quickest. These races are distinguished by the distance traveled and the different muscle groups, physical attributes, and mental acuities tested. Sprinters want nothing to do with the distance events and distance runners look out of place in a starting block. However, both sprint and distance competitions will include races that add the challenge of hurdling obstacles placed between points A and B. Thus, in addition to speed and endurance the athlete must possess the flexibility and body control of a gymnast. The result, for the observer, transcends competition, becoming art. To watch Grant Holloway or Sydney McLaughlin fuse explosive power with serene grace as they traverse the hurdles marking their path is to witness a beauty worthy of an exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art.
In the shorter events the barriers are called hurdles, while in the longer event the barriers are called steeples, and the difference between the two doesn’t end with the name. A hurdle is made in an L-shape, designed to give way if the hurdler’s leg does not clear the hurdle. The hurdler seeks to clear the hurdle completely, and yet just barely. You see, when hurdlers hit the barrier it slows their momentum, but if the hurdlers clear the barrier by too much, they are in the air longer and it slows their momentum. Often the track is littered with crashing hurdles as the athletes attempt to squeeze through that razor thin margin. Conceivably, a hurdler could nick every hurdle, leaving a trail a fallen hurdles behind her, and still win the race.
However, that is not the case with the steeple. Imagine a 4”x4” piece of oak nailed to a couple of sawhorses, and weighing 176 lbs. Your average steeplechase competitor is somewhere around 5’8” and 135 lbs. So, if the runner knocks into a steeple during a race, that steeple is not going anywhere, and most likely, neither is the runner, or at least not without a stretcher. That, my friends, is what you call a stumbling block!
However, both the hurdles and the steeplechase offer images that help to illustrate the text from Romans 14. Paul, here, encourages the Christ follower to resolve “never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of another.” Most often when we think of hindrances and stumbling blocks, we are focusing on the challenges and troubles that befall us along the way to the future toward which we strive and hope. We yearn to clear those hurdles, glide over those steeples, even enlisting prayer, assuming God surely desires for us all we want for life. Yet, growth occurs not as we get what we want, but as we open ourselves to what God may want for us. “Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths,” the psalmist prays. It’s not so much that the obstacles before us disappear, as it is that the path itself changes, and we are given a lift, unknown before, that reduces the intimidation of the obstacles that come our way.
However, here in Romans, Paul shifts the focus from the hurdles and steeples that stand in our way, and challenges us to consider the ways we may be the hurdle or steeple that disrupts the path of others in their journey with God –– “resolve never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of another.” A hindrance probably stings and slows someone down (perhaps like a hurdle), but a stumbling block stops them in their tracks and may require intervention plus a period of healing (perhaps like a steeple). It could be the trauma churches render when they marginalize or exclude anyone they judge to be different. It could be the unkind word or the failure to communicate support. It could be the propensity to pontificate and the failure to act. It could be the inability to listen and the arrogance to presume.
As I reflect on my life, I can point to times I have surely been a hindrance to someone’s journey of faith, and I can also point to those times that cause me to wince in remembrance of how I was the stumbling block that wounded another, causing damage to their perception of what a Christian life looks like, clouding their capacity to see some reflection of Christ in this world, allowing for the creep of cynicism in the face of my hypocrisy. The contradiction of speech and action, word and deed dims their motivation to pursue the next step of faith.
The phrase, Primum non nocere (First, do no harm), may or may not be a part of the original Hippocratic oath, but it is certainly in line with what Paul would have each of us to honor. Maybe our prayer should be –– When I fail to be a guide, let me not be a hurdle.
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