“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. 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. 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. 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, ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’ For everyone will be salted with fire. 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.” (Mark 9:42-50, ESV)
This is one of the first texts I've studied in a while where it was all Jesus talking. So this is just straight taking from His words, and letting them affect our lives.
Jesus starts this whole temptation deal with what we'll call "external" temptation, which the temptation one receives from someone else. The entire Bible takes this idea of external temptation extremely seriously. Either it emphasizes the cost of doing so, like this passage does, or the importance of not doing so, like in 1 Corinthians 8. The cost of doing so, as illustrated by Jesus, is not a pretty sight at all. Millstones were big, and having one hung around your neck and then being thrown out to sea to drown is not very nice thing.
This is what it looks like to have a millstone around your neck.
Try swimming with that on you.
Of course, this is not a literal thing, as we will see with the rest of the passage. The point here is that Jesus takes temptation seriously, and if anyone were to tempt anyone else to sin, ESPECIALLY "these little ones," then that person had better be ready to face God's judgment personally.
The next thing Jesus talks about is "internal" temptation, which is temptation that comes from the sinful nature inside of you.
Jesus does not take this lightly at all either. It is interesting to note that every time Jesus explains the cutting off of a body part, whether it be the hand, foot, or eye, He explicitly explains that it is better to enter the kingdom of Heaven without these parts than to go to hell with them.
This puts the kingdom of Heaven into a somewhat different perspective. I've blogged before that the kingdom of Heaven is our ultimate reward, and it's true in every way. It's everything we will ever want and ever need forevermore. But with this passage in mind, the kingdom of Heaven must also be thought of in terms of sacrifice. We must be willing to sacrifice anything and everything for it.
Again, Jesus does not literally mean that we should cut off our limbs. Either way, even if we did, that does not stop the heart issue of sin. Sin begins internally, not externally. It goes to show that no physical act can truly rescue your heart from sin. While some external acts can help us, they do not save us or fix us, they only adjust our behaviours. This is not a solution, it is just a stopgap.
There is also a specific repetition of the unquenchable fire. Hell is a real place where the fire does not go out, and it will forever burn those who enter it. Their worm never dies, and just as the worm eats away at corpses, so will the worm of hell forever eat away the bodies that go there. None of this is pretty, and all of it is reality.
Jesus then goes into a brief talk about salt and fire, more so salt. The most likely interpretation of this is that everyone who follows Christ will come under fire by suffering and tribulation. But just as you season your food with salt, we too will be seasoned by suffering, not consumed by it.
I fully acknowledge that there are people out there that are facing trials all the time. But the true Christian will face these things with boldness and confidence, knowing that these things are incomparable to the glory that we will receive in the kingdom.
And that's where the salt comes in. If salt loses its saltiness, it is useless and will be thrown away. Salt is inherently a preservative. It is something that maintains. Likewise, our faith must be maintained, so that it may maintain us when the fire comes. If we lose that, then we lose everything, we lose all of ourselves.
Jesus' ending statement is a call for His disciples to have salt in themselves, and to be at peace with one another. This whole passage is probably a response to when the disciples were arguing over who was the greatest, and trying to stop the other guy who was casting out demons. It goes to show that a persevering faith in Christ seeks peace with the rest of the body, that a growing faith seeks to grow with the body. That way, truly, the whole body may enter the kingdom of Heaven fully united and at peace.
All of this talk about temptations and salt truly does put into perspective that the kingdom of Heaven must be thought of in the context of suffering. But again, never forget that it is also a promised inheritance. When it comes to facing sin, I am learning to not so much recite to myself that I must fight, I must fight, I must fight, etc. Rather, I'm learning to remember that God's promises are much greater than the promises of sin, that God Himself is better than the sins that I struggle with, so therefore, I should run to Him instead.
It is indeed better to enter the kingdom of heaven at the cost of some limbs, because the promise and the glory we will receive with Christ and in Christ is far better than the cost of those limbs. Never forget that our sacrifices struggles are not in vain, for they are leading and preparing the way for us towards a greater reality, which is the kingdom of Heaven.
Therefore, cut off everything that causes you to sin. Put it all to death, because there is greater life waiting for us.
-simon
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