Today’s reading is yet another stark message from Jesus. Woe to us if we cause another to stumble. We’re also called to rebuke those who sin against us, but to forgive if those who sin against us turn from what they have previously done which has caused us or the community to stumble. Some of us in Churches are a little too good at rebuking. Others of us are a little too good at appearing to repent, and then proving that our repentance isn’t true repentance, because we continue to live/do/say just what we did before. We’re called to be a forgiving people, including (especially) being forgiving of ourselves. At the same time, it is our responsibility to seek to do all we can to avoid causing another to stumble. Ultimately forgiveness is God’s and we are to seek His help in living a grace-filled life. We’re not to become puffed up or conceited in our righteousness, our forgivingness or the amount of work we do for the Kingdom. We’re not special because we work for the Kingdom, we’re special because we are called, and known by name from before the foundation of the world, by God. Let us not become puffed up in the success of our Christian life, or despondent about our failures. Let us instead be balanced, and continually thankful in the perspective that the glory is not ours, but God’s.