MARK 9:41-50: THURSDAY'S GOSPEL FOR REFLECTION
manuel tuazon, ocds
A.M.D.G.
For: Thursday, May 22, 1997
7th Week in Ordinary Time
From: Mark 9:41-50
Scandal
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[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 around 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.
[49] For every one will be salted with fire. [50] Salt is good; but if
the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you season it? Have salt in
yourselves, and be at peace with one another."
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Commentary:
41. The value and merit of good works lies mainly in the love of God
with which they are done: "A little act, done for love, is worth so
much" (J. Escriva, "The Way", 814). God regards in a special way acts
of service to others, however small: "Do you see that glass of water or
that piece of bread which a holy soul gives to a poor person for God's
sake; it is a small matter, God knows, and in human judgment hardly
worthy of consideration: God, notwithstanding, recompenses it, and
forthwith gives for it some increase of charity" (St Francis de Sales,
"Treatise on the Love of God", book 2, chap. 2).
42. "Scandal is anything said, done or omitted which leads another to
commit sin" ("St Pius X Catechism", 417). Scandal is called, and is,
diabolical when the aim of the scandal-giver is to provoke his neighbor
to sin, understanding sin as offense against God. Since sin is the
greatest of all evils, it is easy to understand why scandal is so
serious and, therefore, why Christ condemns it so roundly. Causing
scandal to children is especially serious, because they are so less
able to defend themselves against evil. What Christ says applies to
everyone, but especially to parents and teachers, who are responsible
before God for the souls of the young.
43. "Hell", literally "Gehenna" or "Ge-hinnom", was a little valley
south of Jerusalem, outside the walls and below the city. For centuries
it was used as the city dump. Usually garbage was burned to avoid it
being a focus of infection. Gehenna was, proverbially, an unclean and
unhealthy place: our Lord used this to explain in a graphic way the
unquenchable fire of hell.
43-48. After teaching the obligation everyone has to avoid giving
scandal to others, Jesus now gives the basis of Christian moral
teaching on the subject of "occasions of sin"--situations liable to
lead to sin. He is very explicit: a person is obliged to avoid
proximate occasions of sin, just as he is obliged to avoid sin itself;
as God already put it in the Old Testament: "Whoever lives in danger
will perish by it" (Sir 3:26-27). The eternal good of our soul is more
important than any temporal good. Therefore, anything that places us in
proximate danger of committing sin should be cut off and thrown away.
By putting things in this way our Lord makes sure we recognize the
seriousness of this obligation.
The Fathers see, in these references to hands and eyes and so forth,
people who are persistent in evil and ever-ready to entice others to
evil behavior and erroneous beliefs. These are the people we should
distance ourselves from, so as to enter life, rather than accompany
them to hell (St Augustine, "De Consensu Evangelistarum", IV, 16; St
John Chrysostom, "Hom. on St Matthew", 60).
44. "Where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched":
these words constituting v. 44 are not in the better manuscripts. They
are taken from Isaiah 66:24 and are repeated as a kind of refrain in
vv. 46 (omitted for the same reason as v. 44) and 48. Our Lord uses
them to refer to the torments of hell. Often "the worm that does not
die" is explained as the eternal remorse felt by those in hell; and the
"fire which is not quenched," as their physical pain. The Fathers also
say that both things may possibly refer to physical torments. In any
case, the punishment in question is terrible and unending.
49-50. "Every one will be salted with fire." St Bede comments on these
words: "Everyone will be salted with fire, says Jesus, because
spiritual wisdom must purify all the elect of any kind of corruption
through carnal desire. Or he may be speaking of the fire of
tribulation, which exercises the patience of the faithful to enable
them to reach perfection" (St Bede, "In Marci Evangelium expositio, in
loc.").
Some codexes add: "and every sacrifice will be salted with salt". This
phrase in Leviticus (2:12), prescribed that all sacrificial offerings
should be seasoned with salt to prevent corruption. This prescription
of the Old Testament is used here to teach Christians to offer
themselves as pleasing victims, impregnated with the spirit of the
Gospel, symbolized by salt. Our Lord's address, which arises out of a
dispute over who is the greatest, ends with a lesson about fraternal
peace and charity. On salt which has lost its taste cf. note on Mt
5:13.
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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentary
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland. Printed in Hungary.
"The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries" is currently available in
the New Testament version only.
"Nihil Obstat": Stephen J. Greene, "Censor Deputatus".
"Imprimi Potest": J. O'Carroll, Diocesan Administrator, 15 October
1987.
Reprinted with permission from the U.S. publisher (see below).
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