MARK 9:42-50

MARK 9:42-50

MARK 9:42-50 - To stumble one of the little ones that believe in Jesus is in His eyes a heinous offence. He declared, “It is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.” What a terrible thing it is deliberately to injure or mislead a little child; or, if one uses the term “little one” in a spiritual sense, a young convert. A fearful responsibility rests upon those who profess to know Christ, to do all they can to help rather than to hinder these little ones. If one is tempted to injure them in any way let him keep in mind the solemn words of the verses that follow.  

If the hand would cause one to stumble let it be cut off, for it is far better to enter into life maimed than having two hands to go into hell; that is, into Gehenna, the place of eternal judgment, “Into the fire that never shall be quenched: where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” Notice how the Lord reiterates this expression. Though He Himself was the tenderest and most gracious Man who ever trod this earth, He had more to say about the awfulness of eternal punishment for the finally unrepentant than anyone else whose teachings appear in the Holy Scriptures. 

  “If thy foot offend thee, cut it off.” If the feet would lead one into paths of sin, better far to be footless and enter into life, than having two feet to be cast into the Gehenna of fire. Or if the eye cause one to stumble—and oh, how often sin enters through the eye!—pluck it out. It is better far to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than having two eyes to be cast into the Gehenna of fire. The expression, “Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched,” was possibly based upon what was constantly visible at the lower part of the valley of the son of Hinnom, where all the refuse of the city was cast, and perpetual fires were kept burning, and the carcasses of dead animals were thrown, and those passing by might behold the gnawing worms and the fire unquenchable. It is an awful picture of the judgment that awaits the Christ-rejecter. 

   Some ancient manuscripts omit a part of verse 49, retaining only the words, “For everyone shall be salted with fire.” The thought is clear, however, even though the remainder of the verse might not rest on the best authority. Every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. God had said concerning the sacrifices, “Neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking” (Lev. 2:13). Salt preserves from corruption, and it would appear that the Lord is insisting here on that preservative power of righteousness which alone will deliver one from the judgment that sin so richly deserves. Jesus had already spoken of His disciples as the salt of the earth, and in this place He adds, “Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it?” Savorless salt is utterly useless. And so a professed believer who is not characterized by righteousness has no testimony whatever for God. The Lord said, “Have salt in yourselves”—that is, let there be in your life and behavior that righteousness which glorifies God; and instead of one seeking his own interest, seek the good of others, and thus have peace one with another.