stumbling blocks or stepping stones

Matthew 18:6-9

The key words in this section are stumble, woe, hand, foot, eye, fire. Jesus uses repetition to help emphasize his point: "if your hand/foot/eye causes you to stumble, cut it off/gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled/maimed/with one eye than to be whole and be thrown into fire."
Jesus is continuing his thought from v. 5 where he says that whoever welcomes someone who has become like a little child, welcomes Jesus. Here, he gives the reverse: it would be better for someone to go and drown themselves than to cause someone to stumble. The disciples must have really liked these words. They must have received a lot of confidence from them. But then Jesus turns the question on them: you or a part of your body may be the source of the stumbling. I think that the disciples must have thought back to their argument about who was the greatest in the kingdom. I think Jesus is helping them to realize that by making that argument, not only are they not becoming like a little child, they are causing those who are becoming like little children to stumble by stirring up with in them pride, ambition, frustration and discord.
I find it interesting that Jesus tells his disciples to fight against causing stumbling (whether to themselves or to someone else) with the same intensity that he told his audience to fight against lust. So, the question for me is am I being a stepping stone, leading people to Jesus, or am I being a stumbling block? I can be a stumbling block by doing things that I know are wrong and leading others to do the same but I can also be a stumbling block by flaunting my liberty. When I do things that are not sinful but that cause others to stumble, I am guilty of the sin of pride and individualism. I am guilty of being a stumbling block. The truth is that, if I lived in isolation, I could do some of these things without any worry or guilty conscience but I do not live in isolation. I live in community. I am responsible for the well-being of my brothers and sisters; not just for my own personal well-being.

from here to zero...

Matthew 16:21-23

The key words in this passage are: third day, stumbling block and concerns. Jesus contrasts the concerns of God with the concerns of humans. This follows right on the heels of Peter's confession of Jesus as the Messiah and Son of God. I think this gives further evidence for Peter being the rock upon which Jesus will build his Church because I think Jesus and Matthew are contrasting the foundational rock in the previous section with the stumbling block to Jesus that Peter has become in this section. I guess technically it is Peter's words that are the stumbling block so it could still be Peter's words that are the foundational rock upon which Jesus will build his Church.
The convicting words in this passage are, "you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns." I know that there are so many times when I do not have concerns of God in mind. I know that I too often pursue human concerns. These words of conviction stop me short because it isn't just that I have the wrong concerns in mind but that I am in direct opposition to the concerns and agenda of God which makes me as much a Satan as Peter. Father, forgive me. Let your kingdom and righteousness be my main and only concern.