Continuing a Bible study of the Gospels:
(Mark 9:30) And they departed from there and passed through Galilee, and He did not want any man to know it.
In the last post, in the first part of chapter 9, Jesus and His disciples had been in the region of Caesarea Philippi where Jesus was transfigured on the mountain and where He had cast out the demon that His disciples could not cast out. They now left there and passed through Galilee, but Jesus did not want anyone to know He was there.
(31) For He taught His disciples and said to them, "The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men and they shall kill Him; and after He is killed, He shall rise the third day."
Jesus apparently had wanted privacy so that He could teach His disciples more about what was to happen to Him. He told them again about how He would be delivered into the hands of men who would kill Him, but after He was killed, He would rise again on the third day after.
(32) But they did not understand this saying and were afraid to ask Him.
Still the disciples did not understand what Jesus was talking about, but they were afraid to ask Him for further explanation.
(33) And He came to Capernaum, and being in the house, He asked them, "What was it you disputed among yourselves on the way?"
Jesus and His disciples had passed through Galilee and now had come to Capernaum. When they were inside a house and probably alone, Jesus asked the disciples what it was they had been arguing about on their way there. Jesus surely already knew, but it was time to bring it to their attention for another lesson.
(34) But they held their peace for on the way they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest.
However, the disciples held their peace and did not want to tell Jesus because they were obviously ashamed that they had been arguing about which one of them would be the greatest.
(35) And He sat down and called the twelve and said to them, "If any man desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all."
Jesus then sat down and called all the disciples to Him for their "lesson." He told them that if any man wanted to be first, he would be last and servant to all. There could be two different ways of interpreting this. One, if one desired to be first, his pride and vanity would be checked and his selfish ambitions would be frustrated, and instead of having superior reverence and respect, he would instead be debased and treated with contempt. Another way of looking at this is that to be first in the eyes of heaven was to be last, to be servant to all, as Jesus was when He came to earth.
(36) And He took a child and set him in the midst of them, and when He had taken him in His arms, He said to them, (37) "Whoever receives one of such children in My name, receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me, but Him who sent Me."
Jesus then took a child who had apparently been in the house with them and held him in His arms. He then said to His disciples that whoever welcomed a child such as the one He held in His arms in His name welcomed and received Him. Although Jesus could have meant a literal small child, He surely was also referring to those baby Christians, or actually any believer, who was like a child in his meekness and lowliness of mind. Anyone who welcomed and received such a one in His name was receiving Jesus, and therefore receiving the One who sent Jesus, Father God in heaven. He didn't mean anyone who received a child into his arms, but one who received him or any believer in Jesus's name, meaning that he showed him the love and kindness and service of Jesus Christ. That person was welcoming and receiving God.
(38) And John answered Him, saying, "Master, we saw one casting out devils in Your name and he does not follow us, and we forbade him because he does not follow us."
His disciple John then told Jesus that they, the disciples, had seen someone casting out devils in Jesus's name, but they forbade him to do that because he did not follow Jesus and His chosen disciples.
(39) But Jesus said, "Do not forbid him, for there is no man who shall do a miracle in My name who can shortly speak evil of Me."
Jesus told John and His disciples not to forbid the man to cast out devils in His name, for if he was doing miracles, and therefore doing good, in the name of Jesus, then he certainly wasn't likely to turn around and speak evil of Jesus. Even though he was not a follower and surely did not know the entire truth about Jesus and His gospel message, he certainly could not be considered an enemy and doing harm. Besides, if a man was able to perform miracles, he had to be doing it by the power of God, so even if he wasn't a true follower of Jesus, or think of it as not of the proper denomination with the correct doctrine, he was not to be discouraged and forbidden to do the work he did in the name of Jesus. What a beautiful lesson about how we must not be prejudiced against other denominations or baby Christians who do not appear to walk perfectly in the correct doctrine. This beautiful grace of Jesus Christ forgives and covers the imperfections and non-adherence to laws and looks at the heart of man. What we need to realize is that if a person loves the Lord and wants to do good in His name, the Lord will lead him into truth and in the way he should go. As Proverbs 3:6 says, "In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." A lesson I have come to learn is that the Lord teaches each of us what we need to know, and it won't be the same for each person. Jesus meets us where we are, and what we need most is not what our neighbor needs most, and because we don't know the hearts as Jesus does, we cannot rightly discern what another needs and insist they do it our way.
(40) "For he who is not against us is on our side."
Jesus went on to add that he who was not against them could be said to be on their side. In Matthew 12:30, Jesus had said that whoever was not with Him was against Him. There is no contradiction when taken in context. Matthew 12:30 went on to say, "...and he who does not gather with me scatters abroad." He who did not gather souls to God scattered them from Him. The context of Matthew 12:30 was that there are no neutrals in spiritual warfare. One is either for Christ or against Him. In the case of the man casting out devils in Jesus's name, he was certainly trying to direct souls to Jesus, whether he did it perfectly or not. Once again, as always, it comes down to the heart of man. If the heart of man was not with Jesus, then he was against Him. If his heart was not against Jesus, then he was on Jesus's side.
(41) "For whoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ, verily I say to you, he shall not lose his reward."
Jesus was reiterating what He had said in verse 37 before John told Him about the man casting out devils who wasn't one of them. Whoever received a believer in His name, received Him; and whoever gave a cup of water to one of Christ's followers, therefore in His name, would be rewarded. Actually, it was all related. The children, the baby Christians, the believers in Jesus Christ, as well as those who were not against Him, but did good in His name, all such people were doing so for Christ, and for helping them one would be rewarded.
(42) "And whoever shall offend one of these little ones who believe in Me, it is better for him that a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea."
Jesus went on to add the contrary fact that whoever offended one of the least little believers in Him would be better off had a millstone been tied around his neck and he was cast into the sea and drowned. The original word translated as "offended" has a stronger meaning than to merely annoy or hurt the feelings; it's that word "skandalizo" which when used in scripture most often means to entrap, to trip up or cause to stumble, to entice to sin or apostasy. Those who purposely pull others away from Christ will suffer great punishment.
(43) "And if your hand offends you, cut it off; it is better for you to enter into life maimed than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched."
Jesus's meaning was that anything in one's life that caused him to spiritually stumble must be cut out, for it would be far better to enter eternal life in heaven without that guilty pleasure than it would be to have it on earth and spend eternity in hellfire. It might be something as dear to one as his own hand, or perhaps it is something that his hand does, like to steal for instance. It would be much better even literally to cut one's hand off if that actually prevented the sin, for that might mean eternity in heaven rather than in hell.
(44) "Where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched."
In verse 44 Jesus further described what hell would be like quoting Isaiah 66:24. Some translations quote it as "where maggots never die and the fire never goes out." While that does sound terrible, Jesus's words and the original in Isaiah say "their worm" and Isaiah even said "their fire." These may be analogical terms for what the soul would endure forever and ever in eternity. As a worm or maggot feeding on the dead or an intestinal worm gnawing on the entrails of a man, so will the guilty conscience of man eternally torment him, and the fire of divine wrath, whether literal or spiritual or both, will never be quenched. Whether literal or not, you can be sure it will be awful torment and terror forever.
For those who don't believe in a literal hell or that God would be so cruel to send His children there, think of it this way. God cannot look upon sin; Jesus provided a way for us to be able to be in the presence of God. If one doesn't accept that offering of Jesus, then that person cannot be in the presence of God. Rather than being gathered to heaven, he will be left behind. As it says in scripture, "every knee will bow." In the end everyone will know that God is true and His awesomeness will overwhelm them, just as the soldiers were knocked down when Jesus said "I AM" (John 18:6). Even though their consciences might not have bothered them on earth, when they know the truth, their consciences that God created in them to know truth, will burn and torment them forever, an anguish and torment they never knew on earth.
(45) "And if your foot offends you, cut it off; it is better for you to enter lame into life than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched. (46) Where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched."
Jesus gave the same dire warning about one's feet that cause him to sin and reject God. It is better to cut them off, or cut out the sinful things one does with those feet, and have eternal life than to go to hell retaining them. Again Jesus described the anguish of one in hell.
(47) "And if your eye offends you, pluck it out; it is better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire. (48) Where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched."
The same goes for the eye. Perhaps the eyes enjoy pornography. If one's eye causes him to fall away from God, then he should pluck it out, more specifically meaning pluck that guilty pleasure out of his life. However, even taken literally, it is far better to enter heaven blind than to have life on earth with two eyes and spend eternity in hell. It was intentional of Jesus to tell the horror of hell three times. It is said throughout scripture that a thing will be established when in the mouth of two or three witnesses. Although Jesus was just One, I do believe it is no coincidence that He chose to say the same thing three times to solidify the fact about hell. That is often the way in scripture. I have learned that if there is an obscure verse that is difficult to interpret, and one interprets it in a way that is unique and nowhere else in the Bible, then that interpretation is false, because throughout the Bible, a fact you can rely on is always reiterated elsewhere in scripture.
I have a personal testimony about losing one's eye(s). My husband was blinded in one eye as a teenager and then lost the sight in the other as a result of a stroke when he was an adult. Although you know that had to be difficult, he came to realize if he had been allowed to go on in the direction he was going, he would have spent eternity in hell fire. He personally knew what it was like to give up both eyes and come to Christ, leaning on Him, following Him, and knowing he would spend eternity with Him. We must learn that God is always good; He can be nothing else. Anything He does or allows to happen is for our ultimate good. He meets us where we are in life, knows what we need to come to Him, and is gracious enough to do it for us! "All things work together for good to them who love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28) Even this many times sad and painful life, a blip on the line of eternity, can be given up for everlasting life in glory with God.
(49) "For everyone shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt."
The one thing that Bible commentators agree on with regard to this verse is that it is a difficult one to understand. Without going into all the different ways it was explained that don't add up for me, I will write what it speaks to me. Everyone will be salted with fire. Every single person, not just the ones who go to hell, will be salted with fire. I believe that refers to all our trials and tribulations in life. God even said that He uses fire to refine us as silver and gold (Zechariah 13:9). Every sacrifice will be salted with salt. We are living sacrifices to God (Romans 12:1). The law in Leviticus 2:13 stated that every offering of flesh was to be salted. The verse explained further what that salt represented when it went on to state that one must never allow the salt of the covenant of God to be lacking from any of their sacrifices. We living sacrifices must always be salted with the covenant of God.
(50) "Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltness, with what will you season it? Have salt in yourselves and have peace one with another."
Jesus went on to say that salt was good, but it must retain its saltiness. If that salt of the covenant of God is gone from us, there is nothing else that can replace it. As Matthew 5:13 stated, we are to be the salt of the earth, but if our salt loses its flavor, it is good for nothing except to be cast out and trodden under foot of men. Jesus said for us to retain that salt in ourselves and to have peace with one another. Something I did not realize or remember until I read John Gill's commentary was that in Numbers the covenant of salt was also called a covenant of peace. Having peace with one another is one of the main ingredients in that covenant of God, that Gospel of Peace. When Jesus was asked in Matthew 22 which was the greatest commandment, He answered it was to love God with all one's heart, soul, and mind, and that the second greatest was to love your neighbor as yourself. He added that all of the laws were centered on those two commandments. Certainly, loving your neighbor is to have peace with him.
All of Jesus's lessons in this post are related to one another. First, we must have humility and not seek the highest position of honor. That humility would have us non-judgmental against those who don't think as we do. If they are not against Christ, then they are with Christ to some degree and not to be discouraged. The same with baby Christians and all believers, none should be discouraged or offended for their faith, although it may not be as ours. Having peace with one another encompasses all these things: we will not seek the highest honor, but esteem others better than ourselves (Philippians 2:3); we will not judge others who honor God in their own ways, we will not discourage those who love God in their own ways, and we will have peace with one another.
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