HARD SAYINGS
HARD SAYINGS
MARK 9:38-50
True faith isn’t preserved by adopting a narrow sectarian spirit and cannot be preserved at the expense of love.
The little story in 9:38-41 is meant for those of us who think that we alone are “sound” and follow Jesus truly, and who do nothing to help the work of other Christians whose understanding of the faith may be different from our own. Here was a man doing effective work in the name of Jesus—unlike the exorcists in Acts 19:13-16. Was he not a disciple at all or simply not one of the Twelve who had been commissioned by Jesus to do this work? Surely the latter was the case. But Jesus gladly receives those who follow him even when the organized church despises them. Those who are not against us in Christ’s service are on our side. At the same time a person who is not for Jesus is against him (Matthew 12:30); there can be no neutrality.
Then Jesus makes his promise of reward for all who care for the disciples by throwing in their lot with them, especially in time of persecution. It should be clear that Jesus is not here speaking of rewards for non-Christians, but is challenging men to personal commitment to himself and his followers.
The following sayings cover such a variety of topics that it is probable that they were spoken on several different occasions and then gathered together as a result of the presence of certain keywords in them (eg “sin” and “salt”). 9:42 stands in strong contrast to 9:37. Whether it refers to disciples young in years or in faith is neither clear nor important. Then Jesus speaks of the danger of a man letting himself be led into sin by hand, foot or eye. The imagery used to describe the sinner’s fate is drawn from Gehenna, a perpetually burning rubbish dump outside Jerusalem, and from the slow eating of dead bodies by worms (Isaiah 66:24). Since this is imagery associated with bodies, it would be wrong to press it to refer to literal fire for souls after death, but Jesus does say that the fate of the sinner will be every bit as bad as Gehenna.
9:49 and 9:50 must he taken on their own. 9:49 is an allusion to the purifying effect of tribulation and suffering. A second saying about salt comes in 9:50a. Matthew 5:13 suggests that it refers to the witness of the disciples which must not be allowed to become insipid. 9:50b says in effect: have the salt of the gospel in your own lives, and then you will live at peace with one another instead of bickering for precedence (9:34). Here is that same combination of grace and gumption which we find in the Sermon on the Mount.