The story of the quails is interesting in many respects, and first of all because it is a story of God's action. What connection, one might think, is there between quails, the outpouring of God's breath, and people prophesying in the camp? Everything seems mixed together. And Moses himself asks to find helpers for him, directly asking God, "Did I give birth to all this people?" There are many questions, many problems, but God's breath, God's action, sets everything in its place.

Those who were rushing back to Egypt receive meat. Moses receives helpers, and with them criticism and demands from "faithful" supporters to forbid unauthorized prophesying. Everything happens rapidly, one thing after another. God simply acts; He simply breathes with His Spirit. He neither punishes nor rewards anyone; each simply receives what he so wanted, but always together with the consequences.

Some were longing for Egypt precisely because there was plenty of meat there. Those who wanted meat received it, ate their fill, and died of some infection: the birds, judging by everything, turned out to be sick. Is this punishment? Not at all; it is simply the desire of those who craved their own way at any cost carried through to the end. The desired thing has been received, and the fact that one had to die because of it... well, no one asked God about the consequences.

Moses wants helpers, but where can they be found? God solves the problem simply: He blesses those whom Moses and the people choose, lets them feel His breath, and makes them prophets, at least for a time. After that each one uses the opportunity presented to him on his own: out of the seventy, only two become prophets. Divine stinginess? Of course not; rather, human irresolution. One can remain what God has made one, but then one must change completely, and one's life will also change irrevocably; not everyone has enough resolve for that.

Moses receives helpers, such as they turned out to be. God did everything possible, and people made use of the gift according to their own readiness. And envy immediately made itself known as well: why is someone suddenly prophesying without permission? Moses is sincerely glad; he would like the whole people of God to consist of prophets, but those around him... those around him are clearly not ready for this. So, then, the people of God will not consist only of prophets.

God's possibilities are boundless; only the human person is limited, at least where his own capacities are concerned. With desires, however, everything is different: here human potential is truly inexhaustible. Thus flows the life of individuals and of the whole people: between God's possibilities, the limitation of their own aspirations, and the boundlessness of their own desires.

The motives behind our actions, even the largest ones, sometimes turn out to be secondary and insignificant things. Passing considerations distort our vision, and we are guided by what we should never have been guided by. This is exactly what Christ's words today are about: "it is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire." The point is that we violate the commandments for the sake of passing gains and pleasures. The Lord calls us to see ourselves and our whole life as a single whole.

At the end of the chapter, Mark the Evangelist gives His words about salt, without which, according to the Old Testament, no sacrifice can be offered. In the ritual context, salt serves as a symbol of faithfulness and faith, and the New Testament mentions of it with reference to the disciples give reason to think that the Lord Himself used this symbol in the same way. Therefore, as an alternative to the petty impulses that lead us into sin, the Lord gives us precisely faith and peace among ourselves.

The closer the Crucifixion comes, the more time Jesus spends with His disciples. He speaks to them about the sufferings awaiting Him. But His disciples do not understand Him; they are thinking not about suffering and death, but about glory and privileges. This is where the argument comes from: "Who is greater? Who will receive more authority in the Kingdom of the Messiah?" John, in addition, seeks to protect the twelve disciples from competition on the part of "outsiders." At the same time, the boundary of "our own circle" is drawn by a very simple sign: "ours" are those who walk with us.

Christ rejects both attempts to build a pyramid of power and honors and the desire to turn the community of disciples into a closed club. He says directly to John: "Do not forbid him." Then He unexpectedly begins a conversation about the danger of stumbling blocks, ending it with the words: "Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another." Here one can see an echo of John's question and of the disciples' arguments about who is greater. The desire to separate "our own" from "outsiders," and to arrange "our own" by rank, destroys peace and makes people suspicious and hostile. Without peace among themselves, Christ's disciples cannot fulfill their mission in the world: to be "the salt of the earth" (Matt. 5:13). (Let us recall that every sacrifice was salted with salt before being offered to God on the altar (Lev. 2:13). Salt, as it were, made the sacrifice fit for God).

What does the word "stumbling block" mean? Other translations of this Greek word ("skandalon") are trap, snare, noose. It is everything that by deception, on the sly, pushes the simplehearted toward a fall or simply gets in the way and obstructs. Let us think about the extent to which the struggle for power, quarrels, and divisions among Christians serve as a stumbling block for "these little ones" and hinder those seeking the Truth from coming to saving faith.