Mark 9:38-50 (NRSV)
Read Mark 9:38-50 on biblegateway.com
Verse 38John said to him, "Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us." Verse 39But Jesus said, "Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Verse 40Whoever is not against us is for us. Verse 41For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.
Verse 42"If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. Verse 43If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. Verse 45And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell. Verse 47And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, Verse 48where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.
Verse 49"For everyone will be salted with fire. Verse 50Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another."
Devotion
This reading follows an acted-out parable (Mark 9:33-37) in which the disciples are quarreling again, just like kids or politicians. Jesus, standing in the midst of his grumpy disciples, takes a little child into his arms. What in the world was Jesus doing? Children were held in low esteem in the Greco-Roman world. So in that act Jesus dramatically lifts up the lowly, drawing our attention to those we should welcome—the little ones, the powerless, those without a voice.
That earlier lesson still seems completely lost on Jesus' disciples. In verse 38 Mark tells us that Jesus' followers continue to be concerned about the pecking order of power. They don't understand how it is possible for God's love to be at work in those they’ve written off. How can it be that the ones we hold in such low esteem are passionately loved by Jesus?
Jesus, the servant Messiah, demonstrates a new way of being in the world and in so doing invites us to live that new way too. A bit later in the story Mark tells us that, against the better judgment of the disciples, the crowds keep bringing their little ones to Jesus. (When will we disciples ever get it?) Jesus takes things into his own hands again, lifting up the lowly, blessing even little children, and thus showing us what the agenda of God’s kingdom is all about.
Prayer
Gracious God, help us to pray that your agenda of shalom will be our agenda as well. Let us live in such a way that your kingdom may come, your will be done on earth—this earth—as it is in heaven. Amen.