Mark 9:38-50 John said to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us. For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.
“If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.
“For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”
Reflection The problem with this Markan text is that it is not one of Shakespeare’s plays, not James Joyce’s Ulysses nor Chris Ware’s graphic novel, Jimmy Corrigan, The Smartest Boy on Earth. The problem with this text is that it is scripture, sacred writing intended to form, and reform the community of the people of God. That would be us.
So how are we to find good news in Jesus’ disconcerting dictum; rather than stumble, chop off our parts in order to avoid being ”thrown into hell where the worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched?” This is a question with which I have wrestled for years. Generally my solution has been, leap over the chopping off of parts and land in the saltiness section because it is not hard to preach about the healing, preserving and enhancing qualities of salt. As professed followers of the way of Jesus we venerate these qualities and have no problem ascribing them to Jesus.
But recognizing, respecting even revering these life sustaining qualities is like pouring salt into a silver plated salt cellar, placing it on a glass shelf, stepping back and staring at it. What good can it do? Unless we swallow the salt, there is no saltiness. Unless we use our hands to heal, our feet to preserve and our eyes to see the best for our lives, our communities and our planet we may as well chop off our hands, cut off our feet and pluck out our eyes because we are the stumbling blocks creating our own hell.
In the context of this Season of Creation, the questions before us today are, “To whom have we given a cup of water to drink? From whom have we withheld it? How have we used our hands to preserve and purify that water so that it is a source of life rather than disease or death? How have we used our eyes to see beyond the standards of the way things are to the way things could be; farmers able to water their crops? no one dying of thirst? adequate sanitation to avoid water borne disease?”
Water is essential for survival. We all know this. We also know the way to heal, preserve and enhance the life giving qualities of water for all. So the real question is, do we have the will to use our hands to heal, our feet to preserve and our eyes to see beyond current standards to enhance the quality of life for all? Here is the thing, if our answer is "no, not on my watch, not at my expense, not if it means I have to change my habits," we will find ourselves “thrown into hell, where the worm never dies and the fire is never quenched.”
So where is the good news? We can choose to swallow the salt and be transformed into the healing, preserving, life enhancing people of God. We can click on the link above and choose to act on "3 Thoughtful Ways to Conserve Water."
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