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Mark 9:38–50
38 John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” 39 But Jesus said, “Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. 40 For the one who is not against us is for us. 41 For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward. 42 “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. 43 And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. 45 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. 47 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, 48 ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’ 49 For everyone will be salted with fire. 50 Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”
When my wife and I were in Rome she wanted to buy a genuine leather handbag. As we went from shop to show, she was very careful to inspect each potential purchase for the quality of the stitching, the feel and grain of the leather, testing the colors to see if they would rub off, the smell, and several other little tests that would reveal potential counterfeits.
I can’t tell you how many little shops and vendors we visited that day, but my wife did finally purchase what she thought was a genuine leather handbag. But then, just a couple of weeks after we got home you can guess what happened. The color quickly faded, the smell of leather was gone, the stitching began to come undone, and it was soon readily apparent to anyone that this “genuine leather handbag” was not the real deal.
In the passage, John’s concern is to keep things genuine and that anyone who is officially not part of Jesus’ group of disciples is not the real deal and should be stopped from doing anything in His name.
Jesus’ response to John shows John, and us, a much larger kingdom of God. A kingdom that is growing and expanding and includes all who call on His name whether they are part of the “official” group of disciples or not.
Right after this conversation, Mark records several sayings of Jesus in verses 42-50 that are brief and terse.
Everyone agrees that these commands in these verses are not to be taken literally and that they are best understood in light of verse 42 regarding the identity of the “little ones.”
“Little ones” does not refer to children, rather it refers to new and ordinary Christians who have little biblical or theological training or understanding. The point Jesus is making is that those who do have training and maturity have the responsibility to guide and mentor these little ones into maturing discipleship and not discount their faith.
The basic point of the brief and terse statements that follow can be summed up in a single thought, “Anything that gets in the way of following Jesus must go.”
That’s a simple enough directive to follow when something is sinful, but it’s challenging when it comes to good things that distract us from knowing, loving, serving, and following Jesus—even God-given good things like hands, feet, and eyes!
The last statements of Jesus in verses 49-50 speak to the trials that every disciple of Jesus will face as they follow Him. To follow Jesus is awesome, wonderful, and good, but, as any maturing Christian can tell you, there are trials and difficulties along the way.
Dallas Willard, in his excellent book, The Spirit of the Disciplines, noted failure to entrust everything to Jesus costs us exactly the life, peace, and joy that we are promised in Jesus.
Nondiscipleship costs abiding peace, a life penetrated throughout by love, faith that sees everything in the light of God’s overriding governance for good, hopefulness that stands firm in the most discouraging of circumstances, power to do what is right and withstand the forces of evil. In short, it costs exactly the abundance of life Jesus said he came to bring…., the correct perspective is to see following Christ not only as the necessity it is, but as the fulfillment of the highest human possibilities and as life on the highest plane.
Is there anything in your life that is hindering you from following Jesus? Is there anyone that you’ve been judging and looking down upon their faith because they are not yet maturing in their faith?
What is the Lord asking you to do?
God bless you and know that you are constantly in my prayers!
Scott
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