The Salty Severity of Grace Text: Mark 9:38-50
Introduction: The High Cost of Cheap Unity
We live in a sentimental age. It is an age that prizes niceness above truth, affirmation above holiness, and a squishy, ill-defined unity above all else. The spirit of our time wants a Christianity without sharp edges, a Christ without a sword, and a discipleship without demands. We are constantly pressured to believe that the most loving thing we can do is blur every line, erase every distinction, and call everyone a brother, regardless of what they believe or how they live.
This pressure comes from the world, to be sure, but it also comes from within the Church. There is a great deal of talk about unity, but it is often a cheap unity, purchased at the price of truth. It is the unity of a theological flea market, where every doctrinal booth is equally valid and no one is allowed to say that someone else is selling poison. This is not the unity of the Spirit, but the unity of indifference.
Into this gelatinous consensus, the words of Jesus in our text from Mark 9 land like a bucket of ice water. Or perhaps, more appropriately, like a bag of salt poured into an open wound. The disciples, led by John, come to Jesus with what they think is a righteous concern. They have found someone operating outside their approved circle, and they shut him down. They were protecting their brand, defending their turf. They were being sectarian. And Jesus immediately corrects their narrow, proprietary spirit. But just as we are getting comfortable with this expansive, "he who is not against us is for us" attitude, Jesus pivots with breathtaking speed. He goes from a warning against sectarianism to the most terrifying warnings about sin and hell found anywhere in the Gospels. He speaks of millstones, of cutting off hands and feet, of gouging out eyes, and of a fire that is not quenched and a worm that does not die.
What are we to make of this? How do these two sections fit together? The connection is this: a right understanding of the breadth of the kingdom must be accompanied by a right understanding of the severity of the kingdom. True catholicity is not doctrinal indifference. True unity is not a truce with sin. Jesus is teaching His disciples, and us, that the kingdom is far bigger than our little tribe, but the entrance into that kingdom is far narrower and more costly than we would like to imagine. We are to be generous with those outside our immediate camp who name the name of Christ, and absolutely ruthless with the sin inside our own hearts. Our modern temptation is to reverse this entirely: we are suspicious and sectarian toward other believers, and tolerant and accommodating toward our own pet sins.
The Text
John said to Him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we tried to hinder him because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not hinder him, for there is no one who will perform a miracle in My name, and be able soon afterward to speak evil of Me. For he who is not against us is for us. For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name because you are of Christ, truly I say to you, he will not lose his reward... And whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble, it would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea. And if your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire, [and where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.] And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame, than, having your two feet, to be cast into hell, [and where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.] And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell, where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED. For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”
(Mark 9:38-50 LSB)
Against Sectarianism (vv. 38-41)
The passage opens with John, the apostle of love, acting like a bouncer for Club Jesus.
"John said to Him, 'Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we tried to hinder him because he was not following us.'" (Mark 9:38)
Notice the justification: "because he was not following us." Not, "because he was a heretic," or "because he was using black magic," but because he wasn't part of their traveling band. This is the essence of a sectarian spirit. It confuses institutional or relational proximity with spiritual validity. The disciples had begun to think that their nearness to Jesus gave them exclusive franchise rights to the kingdom's power. They saw an unaffiliated exorcist successfully using the name of Jesus and, instead of rejoicing that the kingdom was advancing and demons were retreating, their first instinct was to shut him down. This is brand management, not kingdom advancement.
Jesus' reply is swift and decisive.
"But Jesus said, 'Do not hinder him, for there is no one who will perform a miracle in My name, and be able soon afterward to speak evil of Me. For he who is not against us is for us.'" (Mark 9:39-40)
Jesus establishes a generous principle for kingdom cooperation. The test is not "Is he in our denomination?" or "Did he go to our seminary?" or "Does he subscribe to our blog?" The test is, fundamentally, is he for Christ or against Christ? This is not a call for doctrinal minimalism, as though anything goes. The man was casting out demons in Jesus' name. He was operating on the basis of Christ's authority. Jesus' logic is practical: you cannot successfully wield the power of His name and then immediately turn around and curse Him. The power of the name validates the allegiance. Therefore, if someone is not actively opposing the work of Christ, we should charitably assume they are on His side until proven otherwise. This is the principle of catholicity. The true church is bigger than your local church, bigger than your denomination, bigger than your theological tribe.
Jesus then broadens the principle to include even the smallest acts of kindness done for His sake.
"For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name because you are of Christ, truly I say to you, he will not lose his reward." (Mark 9:41)
The kingdom's accounting system is incredibly gracious. The smallest act of service, a cup of cold water, offered not just out of general human kindness but specifically "because you are of Christ," is noted and rewarded by God. This should humble us. We want to build great things for God, and we should. But God sees and honors the quiet, unglamorous acts of faithfulness done for the sake of His people. This is a rebuke to our celebrity-driven, results-oriented evangelicalism. God is not looking for impressive people; He is looking for faithful people.
The Horror of Stumbling Blocks (vv. 42-48)
And now, the tone shifts violently. From the gentle image of a cup of water, Jesus moves to the horrific image of a millstone and a drowning.
"And whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble, it would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea." (Mark 9:42)
Who are these "little ones"? In the immediate context, it refers to any believer, even the one offering a cup of water, or the freelance exorcist. It means any genuine, perhaps immature or weak, follower of Christ. To "cause to stumble" means to be an obstacle to their faith, to lead them into sin or apostasy. Jesus' point is that it is a terrifyingly serious thing to damage the faith of another believer. A millstone was a massive stone, pulled by a donkey, used for grinding grain. The punishment He describes is not a quiet execution; it is a violent, public, and final judgment. It would be better for you to suffer this than to face the divine wrath that comes from leading a believer astray. This is a sober warning to pastors, to elders, to parents, to authors, to anyone with influence in the church. Your words and your life have eternal consequences for others. Do not take that lightly.
From the sin of causing others to stumble, Jesus turns to the sin that arises within our own hearts. The principle is the same: sin must be dealt with ruthlessly.
"And if your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off... And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off... And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out..." (Mark 9:43, 45, 47)
This is obviously hyperbole, but it is a hyperbole meant to shock us into recognizing a terrifying reality. Jesus is not commanding self-mutilation. If you literally cut off your hand, your other hand could still sin. If you gouged out your eye, you could still lust in your heart. The hand, foot, and eye represent our actions, our direction, and our desires. The point is that we must take radical, painful, decisive action against sin in our lives. We are to be spiritual surgeons. There is no room for sentimentality when it comes to your sin. You must kill it, or it will kill you. It is better to enter eternal life maimed, having sacrificed sinful pleasures and pursuits, than to enter hell whole, having clung to the sins that damned you.
And the alternative is made starkly clear. The alternative to this radical spiritual surgery is hell, which He describes with a terrifying refrain, quoting from the last verse of Isaiah.
"...where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED." (Mark 9:48)
Jesus uses the image of Gehenna, the valley outside Jerusalem that was used as the city garbage dump. It was a place of perpetual fire, smoke, and maggots consuming the refuse. This is the image Jesus uses for the final state of the wicked. It is a place of conscious, unending torment. The "worm" represents the internal corruption and shame, the gnawing conscience of the damned. The "fire" represents the external wrath of God. Both are unceasing. This is not annihilation. It is not a temporary remedial school. It is final, conscious, and eternal punishment. If we truly believed this, it would revolutionize how we deal with our own sin and how we evangelize the lost. We have domesticated hell into a theological abstraction, but for Jesus, it was a real, horrific, and eternal destination to be avoided at any cost.
Salted with Fire, Seasoned for Peace (vv. 49-50)
Jesus concludes this section with two dense, proverbial sayings about salt.
"For everyone will be salted with fire." (Mark 9:49)
This is a difficult phrase, but the context gives us the key. Fire has just been described as the agent of judgment in hell. Salt, in the Old Testament, was an agent of preservation and purification, and was required in all sacrifices (Lev. 2:13). Jesus seems to be saying that everyone will face a "salting." For the unbeliever, the fire of hell will "salt" them in the sense that it will preserve them for eternal judgment. Just as salt keeps meat from rotting, the fire of hell will keep the damned from being annihilated, preserving them in their torment. But for the believer, the "fire" is the fire of trial, discipline, and sanctification in this life. We are the sacrifice. This refining fire burns away our dross, our sin, and "salts" us, preserving us for eternal life. We must all pass through fire: either the refining fire of God's grace now, or the retributive fire of His wrath forever.
This leads to the final exhortation.
"Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another." (Mark 9:50)
If we, as believers, are the salt, we must retain our distinctive, preserving, purifying character. A Christian who has compromised with the world, who is no longer distinct from it, is as useless as flavorless salt. He is good for nothing. The command, then, is to "have salt in yourselves." This means cultivating that spiritual reality that makes you distinct. It means being ruthless with sin. It means being preserved by the refining fire of God's discipline.
And notice how He brings it all full circle. "And be at peace with one another." The passage began with the disciples' sectarian strife, their lack of peace with an outsider. It ends with a call to peace. How are these connected? The way to have peace with your brothers is to first be at war with your own sin. Sectarianism, jealousy, and division are fruits of unsalted hearts. When you are diligently cutting off your own sinful hands and gouging out your own sinful eyes, you have far less time and inclination to be policing the boundaries of your little club. A church that is serious about personal holiness will be a church characterized by catholicity and peace. A church that is lax about personal sin will be a breeding ground for factionalism, pride, and strife.
Conclusion: The Gracious Severity
The warnings in this passage are among the most severe in all of Scripture. And we must understand that this severity is a grace. It is a grace that God tells us the truth about the eternal consequences of sin. A God who did not warn us of hell would not be a loving God. It is a grace that He calls us to radical amputation of our sin, because He knows that sin is a cancer that will consume us entirely if left unchecked.
The call of this text is twofold. First, we are called to a broad-hearted, generous catholicity. We must recognize that the kingdom of God is not our personal property. We must rejoice wherever the name of Christ is honored and His work is done, and not fall into the trap of petty, tribalistic jealousy. We are to be at peace with all who call on the name of the Lord.
Second, and as the necessary foundation for the first, we are called to an absolute, uncompromising ruthlessness toward our own sin. You must declare war on your lust, your pride, your envy, your bitterness. You must see it as the damnable thing that it is, the very thing that nailed Jesus to the cross. You cannot make peace with it. You cannot manage it. You must kill it.
This is the salty severity of grace. It is a grace that is wide enough to embrace every true believer, and a grace that is sharp enough to cut out every sin. It is the grace that saves us from a hell of unquenched fire and undying worms, and preserves us, salted and purified, for an eternity of peace with one another in the presence of God.