[Propertalk] Gospel Quotes for Mark 9:38-50 - Part 1

[Joe Parrish]

That is what the word, temptation, means. Enticement. To entice. To entice someone else into sin. To entice a child into sin, to ensnare them, to ensnare someone into sinning. To attract them into the trap as you attract a wolf into the trap.

But there is another meaning to this Greek word for temptation. The word means, stumbling block. Imagine someone walking down a path and there is a brick or stone there in the middle of the path and the person does not see it but stumbles, falls, and gets hurt. Temptation is a stumbling block. It comes from the Greek word, scandalon, from which we get the word, scandal, causing a scandal in someone's life.

http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_b_millstones.htm

Edward F. Markquart
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If you hand causes you to sin and stumble, cut it off. We know better than to take these words literally. That is, it is better to physically cut off a hand rather than your hand leading you to sin and you end up in hell. Such thoughts are gruesome: to cut off one's hand in order to avoid sinning. 

Here again is another example of Aramaic exaggeration, overstatement or hyperbole in order to make a statement. Our hands can get us into trouble by stealing, hitting, killing, pointing, insulting. 

Yes, sinful behaviors that involve our hands such as hitting, fighting, killing, stealing, pointing, threatening need to be curbed. We can injure people and kill people with the use of our hands. 

But the problem is not primarily with our hands but primarily with the heart and head which controls our hands.  It is not the hands that are the problem. It is the heart and the head which is. The heart and the head control the hands just as the heart and head control the tongue. 

A person doesn't cut out a tongue when it swears. The problem is not with the tongue but with the heart and head which control the tongue. 

Focus on the word, "hell." It is the first time that you have seen this word in this short gospel lesson. The word, "hell," occurs three times in this lesson. These are only references to hell in the Gospel of Mark. 

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Are we to take these teachings about the fires of hell literally? Like this picture above? I think not. We are not to take such teachings literally anymore than we take the teachings of Jesus literally ... about literally cutting off hands, literally cutting off feet and literally cutting out eyes in order to avoid sin. No, we are NOT to take such teachings literally. If you take these teachings literally, they become barbaric. 

I like the four gospel's emphasis on eternal life. 26 times were hear about eternal life in the four gospels. There is not one reference to eternal death in the four gospels. 

http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_b_the_fires_of_hell.htm

Edward F. Markquart
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...why the disciples wanted Jesus to stop the man who was casting out demons in Jesus' name. That man was not part of the group. He was not making Jesus (or them) look good. He was making himself look good. After all, when he cast out those demons, people would thank him and praise him instead of Jesus. The disciples were jealous, for Jesus, and mostly for themselves. 
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As we boast about Jesus, we then do not cause little ones who believe to stumble or be shocked at what we do. We no longer shock the little ones by trumpeting our accomplishments, our wins, our impressive work, as if Jesus is not important or worthy of trust. We act in ways that give Christ to others. We act in ways to make others look good. We act in ways that get others loved and cared for. If we have a hungry neighbor, we do not sit in our kitchen and eat well as our boast. We bring our neighbor our food and ask if we may serve him, for he, in his suffering, reminds us of the one who suffered for us. 

http://www.predigten.uni-goettingen.de/archiv-8/061001-12-e.html

Timothy Hoyer
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Repent of self-righteous attitudes. Repent of putting other Christians down. Repent of drawing the circle just around "your" kind of people. 
Repent of not wanting others inside the circle.

http://www.predigten.uni-goettingen.de/archiv-8/061001-5-e.html


Walter W. Harms
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