Would You Rather?
Mark 9.42-50
Introduction
Would you rather? My kids love playing this game usually with silly options. They ask me something like, “would you rather eat only broccoli for the rest of your life or walk around only in your underpants for a whole day?” Haddon, who still isn’t fully getting it might ask, “Dad, would you rather have chipotle or chipotle?”
Well, Jesus certainly isn’t playing a game here, but he is forcing us to consider the cost. Would you rather go to the kingdom of God with one hand, foot, eye, or go to judgment with both? This is the type of pericope that biblical scholars refer to as a hard saying of Jesus. It’s not a very attractional text, not very seeker sensitive. What are we to think of Jesus’ warning and how does it affect Christ Community Church 2,000 years later? Let’s dig in and find out.
Kingdom Protection
Remember the setting, Jesus is sitting in what is probably Peter’s house with a child on his lap teaching the disciples. In the prior pericope he taught them that greatness in the kingdom means serving the socially irrelevant in the church. He then rebuked them for their arrogance of trying to stop another believer from serving Jesus simply because he wasn’t in their clique. Now he will teach them about battling sin. In verse 42 he says whoever causes one of these little ones to sin. The antecedent is the child in his arms. But remember the child represents the socially irrelevant, the least of these. The word in Aramaic for child is טגא it’s the same word for servant. He’s speaking of those in the church who seem unimportant at face value.
If you cause one of these believers to sin it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. The Greek actually says the millstone of a donkey; this is not a small hand held stone women would use to make bread but a stone so big that a donkey would be needed to pull it. What’s even worse, in Jewish thought the sea was chaotic and scary. That’s why the book of Revelation says that in the new creation there is no more sea. It’s poetic language saying there’s no more danger or chaos. The verb is perfect meaning that you are thrown in the sea and you remain in the sea. With this donkey millstone around your neck you’d be sleepin’ with the fishes.
The verb translated “cause to sin” is σκανδαλίζω of which our word scandalize is derivative. It means to make stumble or sin. The picture is of someone trying to follow Christ and you keep intentionally tripping them. Jesus is saying it would be better for you to drown yourself than to scandalize brothers and sisters in Christ.
Let’s think for a second about what this doesn’t mean. For example let’s say we’re both mature Christians, in fact, you’re even older than I am and you’ve been a Christian longer. And let’s say hypothetically that you think it’s a sin to drink root beer. Christians shouldn’t drink root beer because you think it harms their witness, and it’s a sin to over indulge in root beer and in the Bible times it wasn’t really root beer anyway. But I like root beer and don’t think it’s a sin to drink it. This text is not about our situation. This text is not about mature Christians disagreeing on food or drink or anything else.
So what is this pericope about? It’s about protecting the spiritually immature and vulnerable; like Christian parents who wont discipline their children. Or Elders teaching heresy that leads parishioners astray. Those who sow disunity among impressionable young believers. Or Christian parents who would rather their child live in fornication than get married “too young.” However the Spirit applies this in your heart now heed the warning of Jesus: it would be better for you to drown yourself than to cause one of these little ones to sin.
Kingdom Purity
Christ moves from warning about causing others to sin to dealing with our own sin. This section is really about living out the petition in the Lord’s Prayer: lead us not into temptation. Jesus uses the same verb (σκανδαλίζω) about our hands, feet, and eye. If your hand, foot, or eye causes you to sin, to stumble, if it scandalizes you, cut it off or rip it out. It’s better for you to enter life, the kingdom of God, crippled than the alternative. In verses 43-48 I want to look at three issues: (1) the variants, (2) the vocabulary, and (3) the vision.
First, the variants; you probably noticed that the ESV doesn’t have verses 44 and 46. If you have a KJV or any translation based on the Byzantine Text you do. Verses 44 and 46 are word-for-word the same as verse 48. Here’s the story, the oldest manuscripts that we have do not include verses 44 and 46. What probably happened is that as the text was copied by hand over the centuries there was a scribe or a monk or some copyist who added verse 48 after verse 43 and 45. Because much of the language is repetitious in this pericope, it’s understandable. The verse divisions were added about 400 years ago so the numbers have been left the same. Of course these textual variants don’t affect the theology of the text because we know that verse 48 is original.
Second, the vocabulary, specifically the word hell. The Greek word is γέεννα or Gehenna. Since there is so much Western baggage attached to the word hell because of Dante and others I want give you some historical background. During the reign of King Ahaz in ancient Israel the people engaged in the vilest of all pagan practices, the sacrifice of children to Molech. That’s what the Hebrew phrase גֵּ֣יא הִנֹּ֔ם means, “valley of children’s screams.”
King Josiah finally halted this wickedness and he turned this valley southwest of Jerusalem into a burning garbage heap to remind Israel of their sin and to keep them from doing it again. The garbage in Gehenna would include animal carcasses and even the corpses of criminals. Worms would feast on the dead bodies continually and because there was always more garbage added, the fire never went out. By Jesus’ day this flaming garbage heap had become a metaphor for the final punishment of the damned.
So Jesus is saying it is better to enter the kingdom of God crippled than to go healthy to that burning garbage heap outside the city that represents the judgment of God. Verse 48 is instructive because Jesus is quoting Isaiah 66.24. The prophecy of Isaiah ends with God’s people entering the new heavens and the new earth and the reprobate are the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.
What is Jesus’ point about Gehenna or hell? It is like a burning garbage dump outside of the city where God’s people dwell. It is the unrelenting judgment of God for your sin. Hell is not the absence of God; it is the full weight of the glory of God without the mediating work of Jesus Christ. It is eternal wrath. Someone once asked RC Sproul if he thought hell was a literal lake of fire like the imagery used in the book of Revelation. He answered that he doubts it. He said he thinks it’s so much worse that sinners there would rather have a lake of fire.
Third, let’s think about the vision. What is the goal, what is Jesus point with this teaching? Christians can fall in one of two ditches on either side of this road. On one side you have those who’ve taken Jesus’ words literally. They have practiced self-mutilation and deprivation in their efforts of holiness. Eusebius writes in his church history that Origen had trouble controlling lust and mutilated himself. Think of Martin Luther who crawled up those stone Roman stairs, kissing every one of them, in an effort to atone for his sin.
On the other hand, believers can be far too causal with this text. Jesus is simply using hyperbole; we tell ourselves, so don’t worry about it. Jesus is saying that we should be willing to do whatever it takes to keep ourselves from hell. Don’t hear this wrong, he’s not teaching works-based righteousness. That is clearly antithetical to Scripture. But a casual relationship with sin reveals the absence of faith. And while he’s not literally commanding self-mutilation Christ calls us to pursue holiness to the extreme.
If your eye can’t stop looking at pornography, cut out the cable, Internet, or phone. It’s better for you to enter God’s kingdom without Internet than to go to judgment with Internet. If your hand can’t help but gossip or cause division on Facebook cut out Facebook. It’s better to go to the kingdom without Facebook than to go to Gehenna with it. If your feet have you chasing money and you sacrifice time with your family or gathering with the church because you’re pursuing money then get a different job. Better to enter the kingdom lower middle class than to go to hell with a giant bank account. Hell isn’t worth it.
Kingdom Perseverance
This section ends with a transition. Jesus moves from sin to salt, purity to perseverance. The language of salt is used elsewhere in the gospels. But verse 49 is curious: For everyone will be salted with fire. There’s a lot of debate about what this verse means. I think Jesus is summarizing verses 42-48 and transitioning to verse 50 in one sentence; teaching two different ideas in one thought. For those who pursue Gehenna over the kingdom, they will be salted with the fire imagery from Isaiah 66.
Jesus calls his followers the salt of the earth. Salt was valuable in the first century because it not only enhanced taste, but preserved food. But he warns in verse 50 that if salt loses its saltiness how can it be seasoned again with salt? The answer in in verse 49. You see, everyone will experience the fire of God’s wrath for their sin either in eternal judgment or in Christ through his death on the cross. This is why the gospel of Jesus is indeed good news. This is what Jesus experienced on the cross for the elect – the full wrath of God; the rightful judgment of sin. What happened on Good Friday is what theologians call the great exchange: Jesus took our sin and through faith he gives us his sinless righteousness. If you will repent of your sin and place your faith in Jesus Christ you will be saved.
So when we lose our saltiness, when we fall into sin even after we’re saved, how can we be seasoned in salt again? By looking to the good news that we’ve already been salted with fire. Believer, remember the gospel. If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1.9).
Jesus concludes his teaching by calling us to have this salt in ourselves. Remember and respond to the gospel. And this happens most immediately when we are at peace with one another. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom 5.1) and be at peace with one another. Jesus’ teaching on hell here is concluded with ecclesiology. Jesus is saying the best way to fight this fight is to be at peace with your brothers and sisters in the church. On the other hand, if you can’t seem to be at peace in the church, you may want to examine whether you actually know Jesus.
Conclusion
Every human being will experience the fire of God’s judgment, either themselves on the last day, or safe in Christ via his death on the cross. The gospel is not neutral, it either draws you to Christ or drives you away. The same sun that melts the ice hardens the clay. And so each of us must consider this morning: life or judgment, the kingdom of God or Gehenna, new creation or hell, would you rather?