THEY LEFT THAT place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, 31because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.” 32But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.
33They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” 34But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.
35Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.”
36He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, 37“Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”
38“Teacher,” said John, “we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.”
39“Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, 40for whoever is not against us is for us. 41I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward.
42“And if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck. 43If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. 45And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. 47And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, 48where
“‘their worm does not die,
and the fire is not quenched.’
49Everyone will be salted with fire.
50“Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”
Original Meaning
THIS UNIT BEGINS with Jesus’ second announcement of his coming suffering and resurrection. Again, the implications sail over the heads of the disciples, and as soon as they continue their journey “on the road” (9:33), they begin to quarrel over who is the greatest. The disciples’ hydra-headed dullness allows Jesus (or compels him) to give more teaching on the requirements for discipleship. Catchwords thread the sayings together: “in [the] name” (9:37, 38, 39, 41), “to cause to sin [stumble]” (9:42, 43, 45, 47), “fire” (9:43, 48, 49), and “salt” (9:49, 50).
The Second Prediction of Jesus Suffering and Resurrection (9:30–37)
JESUS PASSES THROUGH Galilee again but does not want anyone to know because his public ministry is coming to an end. He needs privacy to continue teaching his small band of disciples about the suffering and death that God requires of him and about what he requires of them. Success hinges on training these few, who will carry the gospel to the world, not on the ovations from dumbfounded crowds. When he makes his second prediction of his death and resurrection, the disciples keep silent. They do not comprehend what he is talking about, but they are afraid to ask him what it means (9:32). Either they are chary of being rebuked if they say anything, as Peter was earlier (8:33), or they prefer to live in a state of denial. They may not have wanted to understand the unpleasant reality staring Jesus in the face.
Fear, however, will increasingly control their reactions to the events Jesus predicts (14:50–52, 66–72; 16:8). Jesus adds a new detail here to his previous announcement of his suffering (8:31): He is “going to be handed over into the hands of men” (NIV, “betrayed into the hands of men”). The disciples should worry who it is who might betray him, but instead they spar with one another about who ranks the highest (9:33–34).
When they arrived in Capernaum, Jesus exposes their spat and their misunderstanding by asking them what they were discussing on the way. The question meets with an embarrassed silence; he has caught them in another dispute. They had argued among themselves over who forgot the loaves (8:16). They had argued with the teachers of the law when they failed to exorcise an unclean spirit (9:14). They will argue with successful exorcists who do not follow them (9:38). They will snort at a woman who displays extravagant devotion to Jesus and denounce it as a waste (14:4–5). This competitive spirit even taints their last supper with Jesus as Peter boasts that he will outdo all the other disciples in remaining faithful to Jesus (14:29). In this present passage the disciples are jockeying for position to be honored alongside their powerful liberator Messiah. The picture Mark presents has tragic-comic dimensions. Jesus walks ahead in silence on his way to his sacrificial death while his straggling disciples push and shove, trying to establish the order of the procession behind him.
The dispute opens the door for Jesus’ teaching on selfless service, and Mark notes its importance by relating that Jesus sits to teach and calls the Twelve. When he first spoke of his suffering, he told them that the one who tries to save his or her life will ultimately lose it, but the one who loses his or her life for his sake will save it (8:35). Now he presents them with another paradox: The one who wants to be first must become last of all and servant of all. The disciples still have visions of grandeur and do not fantasize about becoming servants, who are at everybody’s beck and call. They suffer from puffed-up ambition that will never be ready to take up a cross and follow a suffering servant Messiah.
To reinforce the lesson, Jesus places a little child in their midst and announces: “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me.” Jesus does not set up the child as a model to be imitated, for his culture had no romanticized notions about children. They were not regarded as especially obedient, trusting, simple, innocent, pure, unself-conscious, or humble. The point of comparison is the insignificance of the child on the honor scale. The child had no power, no status, and few rights. A child was dependent, vulnerable, entirely subject to the authority of the father; yet Jesus chooses such a one to represent those who are needy and lowly. If one wants to be great, one should shower attention on those who are regarded as insignificant, as Jesus himself has done. Jesus requires his “great” disciples to show humble service for the humble.
Jesus follows this up with another paradox: When his followers serve those without any status, they receive Jesus and the One who sent him. The greatest thing they can do is serve those who are forgotten and regarded as insignificant—those who have no influence, no titles, no priority, and no importance except to God. Mark pictures a community where no one is to be treated either as a kingpin or as a nonentity (see 1 Cor. 12:12–26). Realizing that one is as small and slight as a child before God evokes repentance.
The Unfamiliar Exorcist (9:38–41)
JOHN PROUDLY ANNOUNCES to Jesus that they saw someone casting out demons in his name and they obstructed him.1 Their reason for intervening? “Because he was not one of us.” The complaint drips with irony. The disciples only recently bungled an exorcism, yet they do not hesitate to obstruct someone who is successful but who is not a member of their team. Jesus catches them by surprise when he does not commend them for their vigilance but instead reproves them: “Do not stop him” (9:39).
This response recalls Moses’ reply to Joshua. Joshua implored Israel’s leader to do something about unauthorized prophets, “Moses, my lord, stop them!” Moses answered, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the LORD’s people were prophets and that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!” (Num. 11:26–29).2 Are the disciples jealous for Jesus or for themselves? Do they want to corner the exorcism market, which would make them indispensable and revered, whereas Jesus wishes that all were exorcists casting out Satan in his name?
In the ancient world, exorcists used whatever name of deities they thought would work. Jesus’ explanation for condoning the exorcist’s success in Mark’s account is practical, not theological. He argues that they cannot use his name to do mighty works and speak ill of him later. Anyone who recognizes the power of Jesus’ name will not accuse him of working by Beelzebub, as the teachers of the law from Jerusalem had done (3:22).
Jesus then opens the doors wide to include on his side all those who are not against him. He knows that both he and his disciples are locked in a life-and-death struggle against evil, and he is prepared to accept any ally willing to join the fight. Jesus concedes the possibility that good can come from circles outside of his own. The forces who call on Jesus’ name in the battle against evil (Acts 3:6, 16; 4:7, 10, 30) can only be weakened by cutthroat competition among themselves. This undogmatic openness to others will trouble anyone more intent on establishing the limits of who is in and who is out than on winning the war against the enemy. The enemy becomes anyone who is “not one of us,” instead of Satan.
While John worries about the competition’s works of power, Jesus shifts to the humblest act of compassion. He asserts that those who give his followers even a cup of cold water in his name will be rewarded (9:41). The reward is more than the satisfaction of doing someone a kindness but is an eschatological reward. The cup of cold water image suggests that those who bear Christ’s name will find themselves in grievous circumstances and desperate for just a drink of water. Later, Jesus will warn them that they will be persecuted and hated by all (13:13). Cups of water will be hard to come by, and then they will appreciate more the neutrality of those who do not join the persecution but extend only the most basic kindness.
Warning About Causing Others to Stumble (9:42–48)
JESUS PROMISES A reward to outsiders who show Christians a bare minimum of goodwill (9:41), but he threatens Christians with dire judgment if they cause a little one who believes in him to slip. He uses hyperbole to make the point: They would be better off to drown at the bottom of the sea with a millstone hung around their necks.3 Better off than what? Jesus omits the conclusion, but one can easily fill in the blanks. It is better to drown in the sea with no chance of escape than to face the judgment that God will dish out to those who lead others to sin. One can infer that God shows more concern for the little ones’ fragile faith than for the great ones’ fragile egos, which cause them to lord it over or ignore others.
A string of maxims warns disciples that they need to be more worried about the evil within them than about outsiders. Again, Jesus uses hyperbole. If your hand/eye/foot causes you to stumble, remove them.4 Judaism prohibited self-mutilation (Deut. 14:1; 1 Kings 18:28; Zech. 13:6), and Jesus did not intend for followers to take this advice literally, any more than one should take literally Paul’s reference to the Galatians’ willingness to tear out their eyes for him (Gal. 5:15). Maiming sometimes was substituted for capital punishment and was considered more merciful than executing a death sentence. Being deformed or crippled was better than being dead. Jesus applies this principle to the disciples’ spiritual life. It is better now to take every precaution and to cut off everything in our lives that leads us to sin than to be punished later in fiery Gehenna.5
Salt (9:49–50)
JESUS CONCLUDES HIS teaching in this section with two enigmatic sayings about salt. The first, “Everyone will be salted with fire,” appears only in Mark. An early interpretation of this saying appears in a textual variant: “for every sacrifice will be salted with salt” (Lev. 2:13). Salt was used for purification (Ezek. 16:4; 43:24), and the one who substituted this gloss associated fire with persecution, “which would purify the Christian community in the way that salt purified a sacrifice”6 This interpretation fits other sayings of Jesus in the Gospel. Jesus has asked the disciples to take up a cross (8:34), promises James and John that they will drink his cup and be baptized with his baptism (10:39), and promises all the disciples that they will have rewards “with … persecutions” (10:30). If they endure to the end (13:13), the suffering they undergo will not destroy them but will purify them for God.
The second salt saying divides into two halves. The first half, “salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again” (9:50a), assumes that one recognizes salt by its distinctive tang. If salt fails to salt food, it is not salt and is worthless.7 The same applies to disciples. If they do not manifest the distinctive characteristics Jesus requires, they are not real disciples and are worthless to him.
The second half of the saying, “Have salt among yourselves [not in yourselves] and be at peace with one another” (9:50b), is in synonymous parallelism. To have salt among yourselves means to share salt, a reference to having meals together in the context of fellowship and peace (Ezra 4:14; Acts 1:4). When people share meals together, they are at peace with one another.8 The discourse began, however, with the disciples disputing among themselves about their status (9:33–37) and objecting to a stranger’s right to use Jesus’ name. It continued with Jesus’ warning about causing other believers to stumble. These concluding sayings present peaceful fellowship as the model for disciples’ relations.9
Bridging Contexts
THE DISCIPLES CAN hide nothing from their Master even when they try to cover up their quarrels and secret ambitions with silence. Jesus knows that each wants to rule the roost and that they have been arguing about the pecking order. Their quarrel over greatness allows him to redefine how one measures greatness and to formulate norms to govern relationships in the community. This section teaches that the Christian community should exemplify a spirit of lowliness instead of swaggering cockiness, acceptance of others instead of exclusion, humble service instead of haughty insolence, and harmonious relations instead of strife and division. The disciples’ behavior again serves as a negative example for readers to learn what not to do.
On being great. The disciples have a mistaken sense of their own self-importance. They want to be great so that others will serve them. A church filled with prima donnas who want to control everything rarely ministers effectively to those inside or outside the fellowship. Everyone is too busy trying to direct others rather than trying to get the job done. This prickly pride spills over into quarrels with outsiders.
The scene here is ironic. Mark has just reported the disciples’ disturbing failure to cast out an unclean spirit, but they do not blush to interfere with someone who successfully casts out demons using Jesus’ name. The reason for obstructing him is telling: “He was not one of us.”10 Their rationale betrays a selfish desire to be regarded as special. They want to preserve their position in a select circle and do not want to share their power because it might undermine their status. They want exclusive rights to Jesus’ name, as if they owned a special copyright to it. Others must apply to them before they can use it. This same attitude emerges in churches today: If we cannot do it, we do not want anyone else to do it either.
The disciples want to establish a hierarchy and to keep all the kingdom power to themselves, as if it is theirs by divine right. This elitist outlook can infect many Christians and leads to pettiness and party politics. Censuring this self-important, self-admiring, and self-glorious spirit within a church becomes tricky because those tainted with it wield their power with determination. Only those who exude a loving and humble spirit themselves and are willing to take the consequences will be able to challenge and help others who imperiously try to throw their weight around. All followers of Christ must learn how God ranks things. God evaluates persons differently from the way people do in our world. We tend to look at such things as heritage, rank, wealth, and position; God looks for self-giving service. Anyone who wants to be first in God’s eyes must become the slave of all. Whoever puts himself or herself first will become last. To become last with God puts one’s soul in jeopardy.
Harmony with others. The incident with the unfamiliar exorcist raises other questions. Clearly disciples cannot limit the power of God to themselves, though they may try. They may assume that their way is the only God-blessed way of doing things. Others do not do it right, which may only mean that they do not do it our way or they do not pay homage to us. This intolerance insists that God can only work through those whom we condone and who have first met our standards. We want to be the ones who make things happen—the movers and shakers—and be recognized accordingly.
A deep sense of lowliness understands that God can use anyone and applauds others who are successful for God, even though they may not be on our team. Jesus’ reaction implies that disciples who go along with him must get along with others. He not only opens admission to the reign of God to all and accepts any who come in his name, he sanctions anyone using the power of his name. The barrier between insider and outsider in this episode becomes nebulous. Augustine said: “Many whom God has, the Church does not have; and many whom the Church has, God does not have.”
But this ambiguity creates problems in trying to apply the text today. What is the qualitative difference between the healing performed by a disciple in the name of Jesus and one by a nondisciple in the name of Jesus? We must recognize that good can come from circles outside ours, but from how far outside? Is one unable to draw limits, and if so, where and how? This openness to others who work independently from our group may make many uncomfortable. It seems too broad-minded and tolerant. Is the church to sanction anyone who works in the name of the Lord? Can this acceptance not lead to doctrinal indifference? The account of the sons of Sceva, who unsuccessfully employed the name of Jesus to cast out evil spirits, reveals a less tolerant attitude toward outsiders who try to pirate Jesus’ power (Acts 19:13–16). Do we reject those who are unsuccessful and accept anyone who successfully uses the name of Jesus? Or can even success be demonic?
We may be open to others, but we are not relieved of the responsibility to discern the spirits. Two keys can help us in this task. (1) We must examine our own motives. Do we oppose others because we are jealous of them, because we are anxious to protect our own turf, or because we insist that others follow us? (2) We must recognize who the real enemy is. Our common enemy is the evil that maliciously destroys human lives. Missionaries who struggle in hand-to-hand combat with this evil frequently understand that cooperation with soldiers who come from different armies but who fight the same foe makes more sense than competing with them. Should we not rejoice that others outside our close circle can be our friends in a world where we need all the friends we can get? Those who engage in petty disputes with others may have forgotten who the enemy is and how easily that enemy can infiltrate behind the lines to disrupt the plan of battle with clever distractions. When we become embroiled in disputes with others and within our own ranks, we cannot win the battle with the real enemy.
One final caution. The phrase, “whoever is not against us is for us” (9:40) can easily be misunderstood. It does not mean that all God requires is that others show no hostility to Jesus and his followers. Ministers grasping for straws to ease a family’s grief have read this passage at funerals to commend persons who had no overt affiliation with Christ. At least the dearly departed was not brazenly against Christ, and they imply that God will reward this neutrality with eternal bliss. Mark, however, was writing in a context of bitter persecution, where Christians were hated by all (13:13) and could barely hope to receive even a cup of cold water (9:41). This statement is, therefore, only applicable in an openly hostile environment.
Those who know violent persecution for their faith understand better what is meant. We might reflect on the few who risked their lives to protect and to hide Jews from the Nazis. There were others who did not risk as much, but they did little things, like not reporting those whom they knew were sheltering Jewish families. When one is being hunted down and people are ready to betray anyone who offers any aid, one appreciates small kindnesses, even benign neutrality. This was the situation of early Christians and explains Jesus’ statement. One may therefore not turn this statement into a principle for salvation.
Radical surgery. The violent images of cutting off hands and feet and tearing out eyes are shocking. Although Jesus is not encouraging masochism, some Christians have taken Jesus’ words literally and have mutilated themselves in obedience (such as Origen, who castrated himself). Few modern readers need to be warned against self-mutilation, however. Most will have two quite different reactions to Jesus’ saying. Some will be offended that Jesus would use such ghoulish imagery and dismiss him as another cruel, mind-control leader who requires fanatical allegiance from his followers. They may interpret his words as monstrous threats to keep followers in line. Others will recognize that Jesus uses hyperbole, and they will substitute something less offensive for the hand, foot, and eye. They are correct; Jesus does not literally mean what he says.
This latter interpretation, however, conveys that Jesus requires much less. The interpreter must then decide how much less Jesus requires. Instead of hand, foot, and eye, what must we cut off? For some today, turning off the television would be as bad as plucking out an eye. One must be careful about the answer to this question. We may dull the saying’s sharp edge so much that no one takes notice—the other extreme of taking them literally. Our culture prefers it that way. We prefer to soften the harshness of guilt, assuage the fear of hell, and live in peaceful compromise with the world. Jesus, however, deliberately chose harsh, scandalous imagery to alert disciples that their lives tremble in the balance. Indifference to others, inducing them to sin, and a lackadaisical disregard for sin in one’s own life imperils one’s salvation. One should be careful not to mute the imagery and muffle Jesus’ alarm.
Contemporary Significance
JESUS HAS CONSISTENTLY avoided self-acclamation, but his disciples are all too ready to exalt themselves over others. If Jesus directed the same question to contemporary followers that he asked his first disciples, “What were you arguing about on the road?” the answer will be no less embarrassing. Christians still jockey for prominence. The unbridled will to power still surfaces in local churches and in denominational politics, destroying fellowship and eviscerating Christian love. Little has changed. Seminary students who begin their studies with high ideals frequently grow disillusioned by the political gamesmanship that infests churches and denominations. Some ministers become so disillusioned by such machinations that they leave the ministry; others quickly learn to play the game; still others correctly recognize that Jesus does not reject ambition, but they sublimate it by aspiring to become the greatest servant in the church rather than the greatest overlord.
Unfortunately, too many leaders use their position in the church to enhance their own status. Billboards and television advertisements for churches give the pastor top billing above God and Jesus, who may not even be mentioned. Church members can likewise be sensitive about receiving full recognition for their service. Forget to mention someone’s name in the church bulletin or newsletter, and one usually will hear about it. On the other hand, many serve selflessly in the church. They will do anything asked of them and will not be offended if they are not asked. Preachers need to take to heart Jesus’ words and inspire others to outdo one another in selflessness. They will do it most effectively by setting the example.
In seeking leaders for the church, committees and bishops usually consult their references, which are often written by peers or superiors. It might be wise to consult those who have worked under their leadership, such as the secretaries and janitors. One can discover the true spirit of an individual by learning how they treated those under their authority. If people know that is how they will be evaluated, they may treat these persons differently. Jesus seems to imply that God looks for these things in evaluating us.
The disciples are shown in this section shaking a forbidding forefinger in the face of others. They forbid the unfamiliar exorcist to work without their permission; they will soon forbid the parents to bring their children to Jesus. The example of the little child is designed to check haughtiness in the Christian community. Real greatness means caring about people—not the people who are regarded as “important” but simply people, such as the (unimportant) child.11
Jesus uses the child as a symbol of the little ones who are little esteemed, who are needy, who are socially invisible and easily ignored, who can be hurt and dominated without anyone knowing or protesting. They are the untutored, the persons on the fringes, the ones whom no one misses when they absent themselves from worship, the ones who are tolerated but not embraced into the fellowship. Leaders might secretly say to themselves and others: “We do not need them, they take up so much time, they are a drain on the budget, we need to focus our energies on more important people or things,” and so on. To those dedicated to serving the high and mighty (who in turn reward special attention with generous support), these humble members may easily be written off as only marginal. But these little ones are not insignificant in the eyes of their Lord. As there is no insignificant family member, so there is no insignificant member in a church. These are the ones to whom Jesus ministered and through whom God works.
One can use the text about the unfamiliar exorcist as a helpful corrective for any community that would presume that God can act only through them. The Christian world is becoming increasingly divided. So-called liberals afraid of so-called evangelicals denigrate them, and vice versa. Each regards the other with deep suspicion and as a lesser caste of Christian. We must guard against the attitude of superiority that says, “You are different from me and I despise you for being different.” You can uncover this spirit by asking yourself and members of your church how they feel about the other churches in the area. Would they pray that another church in the neighborhood might have success in its ministry even if it would siphon off members from their own church? Would they pray for that success if it were of another denomination?
Bill Leonard takes the title of his book God’s Last and Only Hope from a convention sermon delivered in 1948. The preacher had no doubt that God could work only through his group: “I am more tremendously convinced than ever before that the last hope, the fairest hope, the only hope for evangelizing the world on New Testament principles is the Southern Baptist people represented in that convention.”12 Those who are not Southern Baptists may demur. Mark’s text should cause us to reflect on our role and others’ role in God’s plan with greater humility. We must recognize that God’s mission in the world is bigger than we are. We need to recognize who the real enemy is who must be exorcised from our midst and from others. In 1265–66 the Mongol Empire spanned Asia from the Black Sea to the Pacific Ocean, and Khubilai Khan asked Marco Polo to persuade the Christian church in Rome to send one hundred men to teach Christianity to his court. The Christians were in such disarray fighting among themselves that it was twenty-eight years before a single man—let alone a hundred—reached the great court. Already retired, the emperor said, “It is too late, I have grown old in my idolatry.”13
In the battle against evil, we must recognize that whatever particular group we belong to is not the only group of Christians in the world. We can then learn from others who worship the same Christ as Lord and Savior but who may use different language and emphasize different parts of the Scripture from what we do. Perhaps when we lay aside our labels, we will recognize that together we are all Christ’s servants and will then find ways to cooperate rather than to compete in serving him. Without compromising our convictions we can have fellowship (have salt) with one another. We may not think the same thoughts but we will have the same mind in Christ Jesus (Phil. 2:1–4). Our unity will be a sign of what God’s power can do to drive out the evil and chaos infecting our world.