And if your hand causes your downfall, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and go to hell—the unquenchable fire, [44 where
Their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.]
45 And if your foot causes your downfall, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and be thrown into hell— [the unquenchable fire, 46 where
Their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. ]
47 And if your eye causes your downfall, gouge 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, 48 where
Their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.
49 For everyone will be salted with fire. 50 Salt is good, but if the salt should lose its flavor, how can you make it salty? Have salt among yourselves and be at peace with one another.” (Mark 9:43-50 43, Holman Christian Standard Bible. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the HCSB.)
During December 2006, Vivian Stringer, Rutgers University’s 
women’s basketball coach, took a good look at her team and she did not like what she saw. She was starting five inexperienced freshmen and no seniors. They were playing as individuals. Selfishness and jealousy were destroying unity. It was impossible for them to play as a real team.
Stringer took drastic action, designed to get everyone’s undivided attention. She locked the team members out of their locker room. They were not allowed to wear anything with the Rutgers name or logo on it. She made them wash their own uniforms and practice clothes. This discipline continued for a full month, until she was convinced that her young women were ready to put aside divisive attitudes and play together with determination.
Obviously, the lesson was well learned. The Lady Scarlet Knights stormed through the NCAA tournament until being defeated in the championship game by the tradition rich Lady Volunteers of Tennessee.
In Mark 9, we find Jesus dealing with an inexperienced team. He had called raw, individualistic, competitive men to drop everything and follow Him. They had been slow in understanding the vital lessons He was teaching them. Their Jewish concept of the Messiah and the Kingdom He would establish had a firm grip on their minds. Their Teacher’s startling announcement that He would be killed and raised from the dead had stunned them. Even after Peter has confessed that Jesus was the Christ, he could not accept that the Kingdom of God would be anything but political, spelling the Jews’ deliverance from hated Roman domination.
On the road back to Capernaum from Caesarea Philippi, it had become glaringly obvious that the disciples were not ready to play as a team: “On the way they had been arguing with one another about who was the greatest.” (Mark 9:34b)
Even as Jesus was dealing with the “me first” attitude that was threatening His team’s unity, another manifestation of exclusiveness and jealousy had interrupted Him. John had blurted out their discovery of someone who was not of their inner circle who was ministering in Jesus’ name: “Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in Your name, and we tried to stop him because he wasn’t following us.” (Mark 9:38)
Jesus has already hammered home His lesson about how to achieve greatness: “If anyone wants to be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” (Mark 9:35)
Now, in verses 43-50, He uses the strongest possible language to say that this attitude is not an option for anyone on His starting team; it is an essential!
“And if your hand causes your downfall, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and go to hell—the unquenchable fire, [where Their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.] And if your foot causes your downfall, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and be thrown into hell— [the unquenchable fire, where Their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.] And if your eye causes your downfall, gouge 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, where Their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.” (Mark 9:43-48)
Gehenna is the word that is translated as “hell” in these verses. It is the Greek transliteration of a Hebrew phrase, “the valley (gay /gah•ee) of Hinnom.” This was an actual valley south of Jerusalem where King Ahaz had sacrificed his own children to the pagan god, Molech.
"He burned incense in the Valley of Hinnom and burned his children in the fire, imitating the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites." (2 Chronicles 28:3)
At the time when Jesus was teaching His disciples, this valley was a garbage heap. Jerusalem’s filth was dumped there. Rotting dead animals were burned there. It paints an appalling picture of the destiny of those who reject Christ as Lord and Savior.
When Jesus repeatedly used the phrase, “Their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched,” He was quoting Isaiah 66:24, “As they leave, they will see the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against Me; for their maggots will never die, their fire will never go out, and they will be a horror to all mankind.”
Hell is a reality!
In the twelve times that gehenna is used in the New Testament, it is translated as “hell” nine times, and “hell fire” three times.
Jesus knew that people are lost and in danger of hell. This is why He called, taught and commissioned men to take the good news of God’s saving grace throughout the entire world.
Hell was not intended for Man, it was intended for the devil and his angels. Speaking of those who will stand before Him in final judgment, Jesus said, “And the King will answer them, ‘I assure you: Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’ Then He will also say to those on the left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels!” (Matthew 25:40-41)
Hell is a place of eternal separation from God and hope: The Devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. (Revelation 20:10)
Some affections, habits, relationships, ambitions, possessions or prejudices may mean as much to you as your hands, feet or eyes. You may feel that they are essential to who you are. You cannot imagine yourself apart from them.
These things are the essence of self, and selfishness is the essence of sin. The religious leaders, whose love of position and bondage to tradition blinded them to the presence of the Messiah, were in danger of holding to these things throughout their lives and going into eternity lost. They would spend forever and ever separated from the One to whom they had stood close enough to touch. The horrors of gehenna would be an eternal reality for them!
There was another, and more immediate, implication for Jesus’ disciples. It is one that we must not miss.
To deny the lostness of people and the reality of hell is to call Jesus a liar and ignore the urgency of His commission. Anything that hinders us in following and serving Him must be dealt with immediately and severely.
This is the real lesson of Mark 9:43-48!
This lesson is so important that Jesus, using different words, repeated it over and over.
“For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Me and the gospel will save it. For what does it benefit a man to gain the whole world yet lose his life? What can a man give in exchange for his life? For whoever is ashamed of Me and of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:35-38)
“The person who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; the person who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And whoever doesn’t take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me.” (Matthew 10:37-38)
“I assure you: Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains by itself. But if it dies, it produces a large crop. The one who loves his life will lose it, and the one who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me. Where I am, there My servant also will be. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.” (John 12:24-26)
Jesus was telling His men, “You are obsessed with which one of you in going to be greatest in My kingdom. You are bent out of shape because you are afraid someone, who isn’t a member of your club, is going to do something that will steal My blessing, which you jealously covet for yourselves. You are totally missing what this business of following Me is all about. It is not about you, your positions, your ambitions, or your turf. I have a mission to accomplish through you but, if you insist on holding on to these hindering attitudes, you are going to hurt people instead of helping them. You will end up being an exclusive little fraternity, while I am talking about extending Grace to people of every race, language and culture. I don’t care how precious something is to you; I don’t care how ingrained an attitude of prejudice is; it must go. If you insist on holding onto anything that keeps you from hearing Me and obeying Me, then you will end up on the garbage pile. You will be useless to Me.”
WOW! That is tough! That sounds more like Bobby Knight than it does the positive thinking guru of television religion.
You might protest, “That is asking too much. That kind of drastic action would cost me everything!”
Exactly!
Satan says, “Jesus doesn’t really mean that you have to be willing to undergo that kind of radical surgery. This is what He really means”—and he gives you what you want to hear, a health-and-wealth Christianity that promotes self and turns Jesus into your celestial bellhop and divine vending machine.
However, Satan is a liar. He pays in counterfeit money. He promises glory now…but the pain comes later.
Jesus never pulled punches in order to attract followers. He promised pain, persecution and rejection now, but all of eternity in the Light of His presence!
This is the message Mark’s Gentile Roman readers needed to understand. It was costing them everything to follow Christ. Some were asking if it was worth it all. Some who had been attracted without commitment were deciding the cost was too great. They needed to hear all that Jesus had to say about being His disciples. They had to realize that in order to make an impact on the pagan world they would have to be hard on themselves so that they could be compassionate and tender with lost people.
In verses 49 and 50, Jesus concluded His lesson with a salty illustration.
“For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if the salt should lose its flavor, how can you make it salty? Have salt among yourselves and be at peace with one another.”
Bible scholars recognize this as one of the most difficult passages to understand. Commentaries offer at least 15 different interpretations. In light of this, we must approach what Jesus is saying with humility. Bear in mind that He is talking to His disciples about those things that are vital regarding the mission to which they are being called. Mark’s Roman readers will be taking what our Lord says personally. It seems to make sense that “everyone will be salted with fire” can be read with the same understanding as, “But you, be on your guard! They will hand you over to sanhedrins, and you will be flogged in the synagogues. You will stand before governors and kings because of Me, as a witness to them.” (Mark 13:9)
Jesus warned His followers, “A time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering service to God. They will do these things because they haven’t known the Father or Me.” (John 16:2-3)
In the midst of a hostile world, Jesus intends for His followers to have an inexplicable attractiveness. This will drive those who hate Christ crazy, but it will allow the Holy Spirit to draw individuals out of the crowd to the Savior.
On the day that he laid down his life for Christ, Stephen had this attractiveness:
"When they heard these things, they were enraged in their hearts and gnashed their teeth at him. But Stephen, filled by the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven. He saw God’s glory, with Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and he said, 'Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!' Then they screamed at the top of their voices, stopped their ears, and rushed together against him. They threw him out of the city and began to stone him. And the witnesses laid their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. They were stoning Stephen as he called out: 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!' Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, 'Lord, do not charge them with this sin!' And saying this, he fell asleep." (Acts 7:54-60)
I believe the Holy Spirit began a work in the mind and heart of Saul that day that came to a culmination in an encounter with the Living Christ on the road to Damascus. Later, this mysterious attractiveness would be seen when Saul was known as the Apostle Paul:
"Then Agrippa said to Paul, 'Are you going to persuade me to become a Christian so easily?' 'I wish before God,' replied Paul, 'that whether easily or with difficulty, not only you but all who listen to me today might become as I am—except for these chains.'" (Acts 26:28-29)
As Jesus talked about salt, what He said might have come across like this: “You guys know all about the salt that comes from the area around the Dead Sea. It is full of impurities and its flavor only lasts a little while. Once the sharp tang is gone, it is worthless. People throw it out and go looking for something else to make their meat taste better. If you are going to depend on your own personalities and cleverness to attract people, you will have them for a little while and then they will go after the next slick preacher who comes along. If you are willing to be severed from yourselves and any hindering influence, I will give you a strong enduring attractiveness that will draw people to God’s amazing grace. This will be the Holy Spirit indwelling you and working through you.”
During an interview, Steve Nash, the National Basketball Association’s two-time Most Valuable Player, was asked, “Which would you rather have, an assist or a 3-pointer?”
He replied, “An assist. It involves more than one person.”
Nash was then asked, “What makes for a great point guard?”
He said, “He needs to be intelligent and have his teammates’ best interest at heart.”
When Jesus said, “Have salt among yourselves and be at peace with one another,” He was saying, “Right now, I want you to understand the importance of coming together as a team. You have to watch each others’ backs. You have to esteem one another. You have to be as willing to assist as you are to score. Men, you have to really love each other. If you don’t do that, how do you expect to love unlovely people?”
Later, John would record Jesus saying, “This is what I command you: love one another.” (John 15:17)
Paul did not walk with Jesus and the other apostles, but he learned well the lessons of his Teacher.
In his letter to “the church of the Thessalonians,” he wrote: “Now we ask you, brothers, to give recognition to those who labor among you and lead you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. And we exhort you, brothers: warn those who are lazy, comfort the discouraged, help the weak, be patient with everyone. See to it that no one repays evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good for one another and for all.” (1 Thessalonians 5:12-15)
In his letter to the Roman believers, he wrote: “Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.” (Romans 12:1-2)
All that Jesus was teaching His men and us in these verses is expressed in the words of an old hymn. It was written in 1905 by a black pastor, Charles A. Tindley.
"Nothing between my soul and my Savior, Naught of this world's delusive dream; I have renounced all sinful pleasure; Jesus is mine, there's nothing between.
"Nothing between my soul and my Savior, So that his blessed face may be seen; Nothing preventing the least of his favor; Keep the way clear! let nothing between.
"Nothing between, like worldly pleasure; Habits of life, though harmless they seem, Must not my heart from him ever sever; He is my all, there's nothing between.
"Nothing between, like pride or station; Self or friends shall not intervene; Though it may cost me much tribulation, I am resolved, there's nothing between.
"Nothing between, e'er many hard trials, Though the whole world against me convene; Watching with prayer and much self denial, I'll triumph at last, there's nothing between."
© 2007 Wayne Bristow. All rights reserved.
NOTE: You may download this material, at no cost, for personal use or for use in a Christian ministry, as long as credit appears on your copy: Copyright © 2007 Wayne Bristow - All rights reserved. This material may not be reprinted and offered for sale. It may not be posted on another website. It may not be published in any publication without express written consent. Inquires concerning permission to reprint may be addressed to Wayne Bristow at P. O. Box 30325, Edmond, OK 73003-0006.
