"A God for All": A Reflection on the Gospel for September 30th, 2018: Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48

38 John said to him, "Teacher, we saw a man casting out demons in your name, and we forbade him, because he was not following us." 39 But Jesus said, "Do not forbid him; for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon after to speak evil of me. 40 For he that is not against us is for us. 41 For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ, will by no means lose his reward. 42 "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung round his neck and he were thrown into the sea. 43 And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. 45 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell.47 And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, 48 where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.

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I have found myself praying a great deal about this passage because to do it justice would require more than 500 words and a lot of heavy theological insight, which I simply do not have. Our Lord did say the foolish will confound the wise, so here is my “foolish” reflection. John’s first line to Jesus sounds a lot like the words we as Christians continue to use about those outside our preferred circle, our own denomination. How dare they? They’re not in our group. But, Jesus points out that they are using His name for good, not evil, and therefore are “with us” in speaking the truth; that the name of Jesus has power! He continues with a rather graphic outline of the consequences not just of sin, but of causing someone else to sin, and worse… to lose their faith.

Many young Christians enter university today, and within the first few months lose whatever faith in Christ they had. Their professors and their peers—the majority of whom profess to be atheists or agnostics—belittle Christians and target them. They “steal their faith”; they are thieves. Some Christians do the same thing. They twist the truth just enough to lure us in, then seductively lead us off the path of righteousness, usually to fuel their own power. They lie and cheat and kill in the name of Jesus and take others down with them. Jesus reserves his harshest words for such as these.

I think I need to give some theological background on the words “thrown into hell, where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.” I have, in the past, talked with a number of biblical scholars and theologians about hell, and their response could probably be summed up with the following:

It is thus clear that Christ is not here describing hell, but warning people of its horrible character. When it is considered that hell is such an awful place that Christ had recourse to such terrible words as these in his warnings against it, the soul draws back at the very contemplation of such a place.

The hellfire and brimstone preachers have it wrong. This is not the way of Jesus. He does not “scare” people into believing in Him. We are not to live our lives in fear, but in obedience to God in Jesus. Fear of hell is not the way to lead people to Christ; but it should keep us on our knees praying for the conversion of those we love, and yes—the whole world. God longs for us all to come back to him, to “turn from our wickedness and live.” He loves us. He does not want to see any of us in hell. “Come Lord Jesus come, and renew the face of the earth.” (Psalm 104)

Judy Savoy

For your meditation, click here to listen to "Come Alive (Dry Bones)" and pray for all who may have turned from God,
​or have yet to turn to Him.