Thursday of Week 7 of Ordinary Time – Gospel
41For 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.
42“If any of you cause one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. 43If your hand causes you to sin, 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., 45And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell.,, 47And if your eye causes you to sin, 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,, 48where their worm never dies and the fire is never quenched.
49“For everyone will be salted with fire., 50Salt 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.”
Commentary on Mark 9:41-50
Today’s Gospel speaks of ‘scandal’. It is a much used word in our media today and not always with the same meaning that we find in the Gospel. In our time it tends to refer to behaviour which we do not expect from certain individuals or classes of people. We read about it and we say, “How terrible! How wicked!” In the Gospel, however, ‘scandals’ are stumbling blocks which impede one’s journey along Christ’s Way. If a head of state behaves inappropriately with someone in his or her office, that may be scandalous in the media sense, but it is not likely to affect the living out of one’s own Christian faith.
The Way of Christ is expressed in love and compassion and, wherever that happens, the action is noted and rewarded. So anyone who gives a disciple even a drink of water, precisely because that person is known to be a follower of Christ, will not go unrewarded. That ‘anyone’ is to be taken with full literalness. It could be a person of a completely different religion or of none. And one would hope that we would do exactly the same in return.
On the other hand, anyone who corrupts the beliefs of a simple believer is only fit for a fate worse than death. And that applies most of all to fellow believers who, by their actions, can be an obstacle to a person following Christ or coming to know Christ.
But even within ourselves, there can be things in our lives which can block our living out of the Gospel message. A wandering hand may steal, may hurt, may sexually abuse; it would be better to be without a hand than to allow it to do such things. A wandering foot may bring us to places where we are corrupted or cause corruption to others. It would be better to be crippled than to be involved in such things. A wandering eye can result in our treating other people, however beautiful and attractive, as mere objects of desire and may lead to worse things. We can read stories or visit websites which may lead us to thoughts and actions harmful both to ourselves and others—there are many possibilities. Blindness would be a lesser evil.
Obviously, Jesus is not urging us to carry out such amputations literally. His point is to warn us of the many things which can be stumbling blocks in our Christian lives. Perhaps we could reflect a little today and try to enumerate the things that get between us and our following of Jesus.
Jesus says in today’s Gospel:
…everyone will be salted with fire…
To be salted is to be purified and kept from corruption. This can refer either to penalties by which a sinner is punished and at the same time preserved, or to the purifying trials through which we are made more faithful followers. This is the kind of ‘amputation’ that can apply to those who have caused scandal.
This purification can happen through the trials which the Christian is likely to face in the faithful living out of the Gospel. But if the salt itself loses its taste, what can be used to give taste back to it? Rather:
Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.
Good “salt”, that which ‘seasons’ us, seems to be the inner essence of the message of Jesus. It is certainly the key to peace in our own hearts and in our relationships with those around us. And if that salt is within us, we are not likely to be a stumbling block to others looking for Christ and his Way.
