NOTES for Mar 9:42-50

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.

According to the Law, sacrificial meat, before being placed on the altar, had to be salted. Salt became a symbol of purity and readiness for sanctification not by chance: it prevents spoilage and decay in many foods, including meat, just as the keeping of the commandments prevents the spiritual corruption of a person. But salt by itself is not enough for meat to become sacrificial: for this it must be sanctified by the presence of God that dwelt by the altar.

Jesus, however, compares His followers with sacrificial meat prepared for sanctification. The issue is life in that Kingdom which He brought into the world. It is impossible to enter this Kingdom without sanctification and transformation, and participation in its life takes place according to the measure of the fullness of such transformation. The breath of the Kingdom that accompanies the Christian on his spiritual path is sometimes called grace.

In the New Testament books Christians are usually called "saints" not by chance, meaning not righteousness as we understand the word today, but the fact of their sanctification as a result of belonging to the Kingdom. Sanctification was always regarded in the early Christian church as a distinguishing feature of Christians. And the Savior speaks of the same thing: a Christian cannot fail to be ready for sanctification; if he loses this readiness, he is no longer a Christian.

Salt that has lost its strength is something utterly incredible. Salt does not lose its properties under any circumstances; it can only become unnoticeable if its concentration, for example in a solution, is too small. Salt that has lost its strength is no longer salt, and most likely it was not salt from the very beginning. The same is true of a Christian: a Christian who does not desire sanctification, who does not seek the life of the Kingdom, is not a Christian at all. Most likely such a person never was a Christian, having come to the Church by mistake or through misunderstanding. For Christianity is not a new religion and not a new morality, but a new life.

We are used to the fact that deceit and malice act in our world through anyone at all, including through ourselves. But the Lord does not call His disciples to this. He wants them, that is, us, to be like salt, preserving the surrounding world from decay. Having peace within ourselves, bearing His presence within ourselves, we should sow this peace around us, as a candle pours a small but real light over the surrounding objects.

But if those who are called to be salt themselves bring hatred and temptation into the world? Who will be light for us if we do not shine? With what can salt be salted if all its taste has vanished? We are used to the fact that we are not saints. Where, then, is holiness to come from?

How did people discover the properties or the characteristics of salt? It was certainly at first by instinct - for even animals lick salt when they find it. Then through the gustatory sensation - the small additions of salt make food delicious. After those who salted the food encountered salt’s preservative effect. This scenario may not be correct, but salt really has useful properties indispensable to Man, what made it {salt} to be almost a precious thing at that time.

Jesus uses repeatedly the image of the salt in His sermons. The most mattering in what we read today is certainly the idea according to which salt exists as the biggest degree of saltness, we can give taste to anything that" lacks salt "adding more salt, but we can do nothing more if the salt itself becomes unsalty. There is something very indispensable to our life - it is the relationship with God; all the rest can be salted, can find a “raison d’être” through these relationships, but it will be impossible to replace these relationships with anything if these are lost. That's why Jesus exhorts His followers to preserve this "salt", these relationships with God; good relationships between men - peace turns out to be the reverse side of these relations hips with God.

How did people discover the useful properties of salt? First, perhaps, through instinct: after all, animals lick salt wherever they find it. Then through taste sensations: small additions of salt make food tastier. Then, by salting food in advance, they discovered salt's preserving effect. Perhaps it was not exactly so, but salt really does have a number of very useful properties for people, properties that made salt almost a treasure in former times.

Several times Jesus uses the image of salt in His preaching. In what we read today, the most important thought is perhaps this: there is salt itself as the highest degree of saltiness; any "undersalting" can be corrected by it, but if salt itself "loses its strength," then nothing can correct that. There is something absolutely necessary for our life: our relationship with God. Everything else can be "salted," can gain meaning, through this relationship, but if this relationship is lost, nothing can replace it. That is why Jesus calls His disciples to preserve this "salt," this relationship with God, and the other side of this relationship turns out to be right relationships with one another: peace.

We meet several times in the Bible the image of salt; Jesus also uses it in His teachings. We have less concern about it now: actually, it is indeed almost the cheapest of food products! But it was different in the time of Jesus; salt had a very big value. It was difficult to extract pure and tasty salt; its demand was not lesser, but more than today.

We all know the wonderful properties of salt. Even a small addition of salt gives taste to food; it doesn’t just make salty, but also gives a certain taste. Besides, salt is the oldest preservative agent, it protects foods from putrefaction even under high temperature. Man also needs something like this in his spiritual life, that can protect him from inward “putrefaction” and allow showing the hidden gifts that the Creator endued him. The Lord Jesus Christ compares to salt whatever we receive when we have addressed him: faith, the Kingdom of God, Peace etc..... But still, He warns about the necessity of receiving and keeping these gifts. Because we can salt soup or add salt inside soup if this one is not salted, but if this salt becomes insipid, then whether we add it or not, nothing will change. Thus, our task consists of being constantly turned towards the One who gives genuine salt, salt that never loses its saltness.

Everything Jesus said undoubtedly makes us reflect. But some of His words, at first sight, cause nothing but bewilderment. Consider, for example, the way He proposed to combat temptations. It is not even that, had the Savior’s disciples followed their Teacher’s words literally, there would probably not have remained a single Christian with two hands, two feet, and two eyes. The point is that even if His words are understood allegorically, and even if we take them as a concise and precise artistic image, it is far from easy to carry out the advice He gave. For in essence, carrying it out means renouncing oneself, some part of one’s own being. Yet apparently this way of struggling with one’s own sin sometimes truly proves to be the only possible one. What else remains if sin so thoroughly permeates some of the principles that make us who we are that the only way to avoid sin is to renounce those principles? It is like a cancerous tumor: the operation often proves difficult, but nevertheless it is the only way to save the patient’s life. The Savior does not hesitate: if the operation is necessary, it must be performed. And as quickly as possible.

Today in the Gospel according to Mark we read Christ's words as if they were addressed especially to our time. The point is that in life there are many things that in one way or another draw us toward sin. As a rule, when faced with these temptations, we permit ourselves many unacceptable things. God told Cain long ago: "sin is crouching at the door; its desire is for you, but you must rule over it" (Gen 4:7). In today's passage the Lord says the same thing. He calls us to renounce and free ourselves from what draws us into committing sin. We are not to justify ourselves by saying that we cannot resist our "natural needs," but to be freed from them.

In the fourth century, morals in the Roman Empire were no better than they are in our world today. Most people believed it was impossible to resist the thirst for pleasures of the flesh, the thirst for wealth, and the striving for success and power in life. And the Lord called an Egyptian named Anthony to renounce all this, so that we might see that the temptations of an age can be overcome. Thus monasticism was born, bearing witness to all of us through celibacy, poverty, and obedience that the words of Christ read today are possible to fulfill.

John's question is very easy to understand. The apostles accompany Christ, enduring with Him all the hardships of the road, experiencing the rejection of the Pharisees, and sharing the Teacher's attention with thousands upon thousands who suffer... Suddenly someone appears who has not gone through all these difficulties but has received every possible benefit. And we know that the disciples themselves did not always succeed in working the miracles that the Teacher worked... Such a question could have been prompted by simple human envy and resentment. In our own lives we are often tormented by a similar problem, asking God: "Why do I pray and fast, why am I zealous in faith, yet nothing happens, while Your gifts appear in my neighbor much more clearly, even though he does not even attend church?" In the Gospel Jesus gives us His answer: "Do not stop him." It follows that we must watch ourselves rather than determine how worthy or unworthy our neighbor is.

Today's passage is devoted to one of the main themes of the entire New Testament: the theme of the Kingdom of God. What is especially important here is that Jesus Himself gives the explanations concerning the Kingdom. At the center of His story is the image of a child, who symbolizes those who occupy the first places in the Kingdom of God (vv. 36-37). A person who causes a child to stumble is worse than a murderer, for even a murderer deserves trial, while Jesus compares such a tempter with a person who is thrown into the sea to be drowned without any trial (v. 42). This image, of course, does not appear by accident. In a traditional, patriarchal society, in large families, children as a rule did not occupy the honorable first places they often occupy in modern families. Children were regarded as natural servants and helpers, as the younger members of a large family or patriarchal clan. They truly were younger, and therefore the position of such a "natural servant" did not wound them at all and was not perceived by them as humiliation or as a lack of attention or love. Almost any adult in such a position feels a certain second-class status and dependence, which is understandable, given how important social position and the status connected with it are in an adult's eyes. Children do not think about this, and therefore for them there is no problem here. Apparently this is exactly what Jesus has in mind when He gives a child as an example, as the model of a resident of the Kingdom of God: for those who want to be its residents, it is important to renounce traditional ideas about the importance of social position and social status. Of course, in this case there always remains the danger that nearby there may be people who want to take advantage of such a state of affairs, just as in every age there have been people ready to take advantage of a child's familiar naivete and abuse it. It is precisely this sin that Jesus says is worse than murder and unworthy even of trial, for the person who acts this way not only rejects the fullness of the life of the Kingdom of God himself, but also prevents others from receiving it. Meanwhile, in a person's life there is always something that prevents him from becoming a child in the sense in which Jesus speaks of it: it may be a "hand," or a "foot," or an "eye," in short, anything a person uses in order not to be the child who can enter the Kingdom. Jesus advises getting rid of whatever interferes without regret (vv. 43-48). Sometimes it may seem that in doing so one loses something vitally important, something without which life will become damaged; but on closer inspection it turns out that the imagined "fullness" leads somewhere very different from the place where the fullness of life can be found, while apparent impairment at the end of the road turns into the fullness of the Kingdom of God.

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.