Mark 9:42-50
42 “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea. 43 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life 1maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched— 44 where ‘Their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’
45 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame, rather than having two feet, to be cast into hell, 5into the fire that shall never be quenched— 46 where ‘Their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’
47 And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire— 48 where ‘Their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’
49 “For everyone will be seasoned with fire, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt.
50 Salt is good, but if the salt loses its flavor, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace with one another.”
“What kind of example do you want to set?”
I’m sure you’ve heard this question. Many people ask it, for different reasons. We hear it from our bosses, from our parents, from our teachers. Whether we realize it or not, and whether we want it or not, people are watching us, and they will make decisions about us based on our actions.
In this passage, Jesus teaches us much about how we are to live our lives as Christians. How should we feel about sin and temptation? How should we view our fellow Christians? Most importantly, what kind of examples are we going to be to our fellow Christians and to each other in this world?
This is certainly an unusual text. What of all of this business with self mutilation? I don’t know about you, but I’m not in any hurry to cut off my hands or my feet, or pluck out an eye. My eyes barely work well enough as is, I wouldn’t want to lose one of them!
In this passage, the verb that is translated “causes you to sin”, is the word that we get our term “scandal” from. So we might say instead, “if your hand causes you to get into scandals, cut it off.” We use the term “scandal” a lot, but what do we really mean by it? In Greek, the “scandal” is the bait in a fatal trap. The verb form of the word (which sounds like our word “scandalize” means to fall into a fatal trap.
Usually, when someone is involved in a scandal, it means they’ve done something obviously wrong. We see this with political scandals all the time – in recent memory, we’ve seen obvious misconduct by Senator John Edwards, President Bill Clinton, and others. Many scandals are related to sexual misconduct but not all are.
We’ve also seen recently where our military wounded from overseas were not being properly cared for at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC. We also see scandals in sports, such as the allegations that Pete Rose bet on baseball, and during the 1994 Winter Olympics, when Tonya Harding hired someone to physically attack teammate Nancy Kerrigan, to keep her from competing.
Scandals shake our trust in people, and in institutions. They make us wonder whether we should keep believing in the things we believe in. Can we trust that athletes want to compete fairly?
Can we trust that politicians are telling us the truth? When our brothers, sisters, sons and daughters or other relatives are hurt, fighting overseas for our freedom and for the freedom of others, will they get the medical care they need? Worst of all, people see these scandals and wonder if it might be OK for them to do the same things. Some people get away with it, don’t they? At least, they do until they’re caught. We know we never catch everyone who does wrong. And in the course of these scandals we find that people have been getting away with bad things for years.
It is unlikely that any of us will ever be involved in a scandal like those. And yet, there are little scandals that we deal with all the time. Have you ever broken a promise to your parents, or to your children? Have you ever seen the hurt in their eyes, and known that you have done wrong, and damaged their trust in you?
This is the key thing in other places in the New Testament when this same verb is used, most notably in Paul’s first letter the Corinthians, 8:13. The verb is here translated “stumble”: 13 Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.
In this context, Paul speaks of doing something that is OK in and of itself, but which someone else believes is wrong. We have to be careful what we do in front of others – if someone else thinks that what you’re doing is wrong, that person may lose their faith over it. That is far too high a price to pay for the exercise of freedom.
This stumbling, or falling into scandal, is a very serious matter indeed. It is better, in fact, to do without a hand, an eye, or a foot than to fall into such a trap. The alternatives, as Jesus states them, are to either enter life, or the Kingdom of God, missing a body part than to go to hell, where: ‘Their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. It is bad to be maimed, lame, or blind, but far better that than to go to hell.
What, then? What should we do, if we are not to be scandals and traps for each other? Jesus gave himself for us so we would not need to suffer this fate. He lived a perfect life and died a perfect death, which enables us to enter life, or the Kingdom of Heaven. He never caused anyone to stumble, and his sacrifice is great enough to cover it even if we do cause anyone to stumble.
When we fear that we have done any wrong, such as causing someone to stumble, his Word tells us that this sin is forgiven, too, forgotten in God’s mercy, “As far as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12). When we feel the weight of sin and guilt, when we feel how vast the gulf is between what we do and what we should do, we may cry with Saint Paul, who called himself “the chief of sinners”, and also asked, “Who will save me from this body of death?” We must also remember the rest of what Paul said: 1 Tim 1:15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.
Because of Paul’s hope in Christ, he could also say: Phi 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
Because of his sacrifice, and because of our hope that we share with Paul, we can be, as he calls us, “Salt of the earth.” Salt is many things – it is a seasoning, it is a preservative. It was valuable enough in the Roman world to be used as a currency, the way the Romans paid their army. The saying “worth his or her salt” refers to this practice.
So what is it that we, as Christians do, that makes us “salty”? Since the world, including people who aren’t believers, can see us, we should do our best to do the right thing, all the time. This is our testimony to the world and each other that we have been saved from sin, not for it.
We should always be ready to give an answer for the hope that is in us (1 Peter 3:15), and we should conduct ourselves in a way that makes people want to ask us! God is pleased when we obey his law. Our obedience, or good behavior, cannot convert people. Only the Holy Spirit working through the Word and Sacraments can do that.
But with God’s help, may our witness and testimony always be as salt, and not as scandal. And may we always be at peace with each other. In so doing, we will follow Christ’s example, and there is none better.
In Christ’s name we pray, Amen.
Marty Jackson