Mark 9:41 - Meaning and Application

Here Christ promises a reward to anyone who shows kindness to his disciples (Mark 9:41). “Whoever gives you a cup of water, when you need it, because you belong to Christ, and because you are part of his family, will not lose his reward.” This is a sweet honor and joy for Christians: they belong to Christ. They have joined themselves to him, he owns them, and they are even more closely related to him as members of his body.

Those who belong to Christ can sometimes be brought so low that they are glad of a cup of cold water. So helping Christ’s poor in their troubles is a good work, and it will pay well. He receives it and will reward it. But that kindness must be given for his sake, because they belong to him. That is what makes the kindness holy and valuable in God’s sight.

This also gives a reason not to oppose or discourage people who serve Christ’s kingdom, even if they do not agree with us in everything. It fits the point here about not stopping those who cast out demons in Christ’s name, even though they did not follow him closely. As Dr. Hammond puts it, Christ accepts not only great works from his close followers, but also the smallest act of sincere faith and Christian service, as small as giving a cup of water to one of his disciples because he belongs to Christ.

If Christ counts kindness to us as service done to him, then we should count service done to him as kindness shown to us. We should welcome and encourage such service, even when it comes from people who do not follow with us in every detail.

He then warns those who cause offense to his little ones, that is, true Christians, especially the weak and easily harmed ones (Mark 9:42). Anyone who blocks their growth in the ways of God, discourages them, or leads them into sin would be better off with a millstone tied around his neck and thrown into the sea. His punishment will be very great, and the ruin of his soul far more dreadful than such a death of the body.

He also warns all his followers to guard their own souls. Care for others must begin at home. If we must be careful not to keep others from good or lead them into sin, then we must be even more careful to avoid anything that turns us from duty or pulls us into sin. Whatever does that must be cut off, even if it is very dear to us.

The case is this: our own hand, eye, or foot may offend us, meaning that some cherished sin or tempting thing has become as dear to us as a hand or eye, yet is leading us into sin. It may be something we love so much that we do not want to give it up, but it has become a trap or a stumbling block. If we cannot keep it without losing Christ and a good conscience, then we must part with it.

The duty is plain: cut off the hand, pluck out the eye, and remove the foot. That means putting to death our beloved sin, killing it, crucifying it, starving it, and making no provision for it. Things that once seemed delightful must be cast away as hateful if they draw us toward evil. It is necessary to cut away the part that has become poisoned, so the whole person is not ruined. We must accept pain now so we do not bring ruin on ourselves later. Self must be denied, or it will destroy us.

We must do this because the flesh, our sinful nature, must be put to death if we are to enter life, the kingdom of God (Mark 9:43, Mark 9:45, Mark 9:47). If we give up sin, we may feel, for a time, as if we are crippled or maimed. It may seem like a hard thing to do. But it is for life, and people will give up anything to save their lives. It is also for the kingdom of God, which we cannot obtain any other way. These marks of loss will become marks of honor in the kingdom of the Lord Jesus.

If we refuse to do this, the issue is clear, either sin must die, or we must die with it. If we keep sin close, like Delilah in our bosom, it will betray us. If sin rules us, it will surely ruin us. If we keep our hands, eyes, and feet and use them in sin, we will be cast into hell.

Our Savior often urged duty by warning us about the torments of hell, where we go if we keep living in sin. How strongly he repeats these words three times here: “Where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.” He is quoting Isaiah 66:24. The “worm” is the sinner’s own conscience, full of bitter memory, shame, and reproach. It clings to the lost soul like worms to a dead body, feeding on it and never leaving. “Son, remember” will set that worm gnawing. Then the sinner will feel the force of words like these: “How I hated instruction!” (Proverbs 5:12, Proverbs 5:23). The soul that feeds this worm does not die, and the worm itself does not die either.

The “fire that is not quenched” is the wrath of God that rests on a guilty and unclean conscience. It is the wrath of the living God, the eternal God, and it is a fearful thing to fall into his hands. There is no work of the Spirit of grace in the souls of the damned to change them. So the fuel remains forever fit to burn. There is also no application of Christ’s merit to them, so nothing calms or quenches that fire.

Dr. Whitby notes that the endless punishment of hell was not only the steady belief of the Christian church, but also of the Jewish church. Josephus says the Pharisees taught that the souls of the wicked would be punished forever, and that a perpetual prison was prepared for them. Philo says the punishment of the wicked is to live forever while dying, and to be in endless pain and grief that never stops.

The last two verses are hard to understand, and interpreters do not agree on their exact meaning. The general idea, however, is this: everyone, or rather everyone who is cast into hell, will be salted with fire, and every sacrifice will be salted with salt. So Jesus says, “Have salt in yourselves.”

Under the law of Moses, every sacrifice had to be salted with salt. This was not to preserve it, since it was to be burned right away, but because it was offered as food at God’s table, and no flesh is eaten without salt. This was especially required in the grain offerings (Leviticus 2:13).

Human nature is corrupt, and Scripture often calls it flesh (Genesis 6:3; Psalm 78:39). Because of that, something must be done to us before we can be a sacrifice to God. Salting fish, and I think other things too, is called curing them. In the same way, grace must work on us to fit us for God.

Our main concern should be to present ourselves as living sacrifices to God’s grace (Romans 12:1). To be acceptable, we must be salted with salt. That means our sinful desires must be controlled and put to death, and our souls must carry the taste and power of grace. In this way, the offering of the Gentiles is said to be acceptable because it is made holy by the Holy Spirit, just as sacrifices were salted (Romans 15:16).

Those who have the salt of grace must show it. They should have salt within them, a living power of grace in the heart that drives out corrupt desires and everything in the soul that leads to decay and would offend God or our own consciences, just as rotten food does. Our speech must always be gracious and seasoned with this salt, so that no corrupt talk comes from our mouths. We should hate such talk as much as we would hate to put rotten food in our mouths.

This gracious salt will keep our consciences clear before God, and it will also shape how we deal with other people, so that we do not offend any of Christ’s little ones, but live at peace with one another. We must not only have this salt of grace, but keep its taste and power. If this salt loses its strength, if a Christian turns away from Christianity and no longer lives under its influence, what can bring him back, or what can season him again? That is what was said in Matthew 5:13.

Those who do not offer themselves as living sacrifices to God’s grace will be made forever dying sacrifices to his justice. Since they would not give him honor, he will get honor from them. They would not be salted with the salt of divine grace, and would not let grace subdue their sinful desires. They would not submit to the painful work needed to cut out their pride. To them it felt like cutting off a hand or pulling out an eye. So in hell they will be salted with fire. Coals of fire will be scattered on them (Ezekiel 10:2), as salt is scattered on meat, along with brimstone (Job 18:15), just as fire and brimstone were rained on Sodom. The sins they have enjoyed will, as it were, eat their flesh with fire (James 5:3).

The pain of putting sin to death now cannot compare with the punishment for refusing to do it, any more than salting compares with burning. And since Jesus has said that the fire of hell will not be quenched, someone might object that its fuel cannot last forever. Here he shows that God’s power will make it last forever. Those thrown into hell will find that the fire has not only salt’s power to sting and preserve, but also its lasting quality. That is why salt is used to mean something permanent: a covenant of salt is a lasting covenant, and Lot’s wife, turned into a pillar of salt, became a lasting sign of God’s judgment.

Since this will surely be the fate of those who do not put to death the flesh, with its desires and passions, let us, knowing this fear of the Lord, be persuaded to do it.