Mark 9:49

[ Jesus said ]  “For everyone will be salted with fire.”

Let’s find whether we can understand what Yeshu’s words might have meant to Jewish people:

When worshippers came to the Jewish gompa to make wheat-barley display offerings to the Lord God, the food had first to be salted, and then it was burned on the display altar, where the smoke of it rose up.

Yeshu seems to be saying that the disciples’ lives must be offered to God like a food offering.

As for the meaning of salt, in order to be pleasing to God their offered lives must be salty. God requires them to be right-minded towards Him, and He in turn will bless them. The salt is a sign that we agree to His contract with us.

As for the meaning of fire, it would suggest that to offer oneself to God as a disciple might be painful.

May Yeshu Himself by His Holy Spirit teach our hearts the meaning of these words.

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Mark 9:42-48

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. And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell to the unquenchable fire. 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. And 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 with two eyes to be thrown into hell, where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.

Some older believers may think that they can behave sinfully without falling over. But see how Yeshu cares for simple believers like the child in verse 36. With strong language he says, ‘Never make them fall down by your own sinning.’

Better the pain of disciplining your self-serving actions and desires now than going to the unending hot hell.

Mark 9:38-41

John said to him, “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 mighty work in my name will be able soon afterwards to speak evil of me. For the one who is not against us is for us. For truly I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.”

Yeshu rebukes his close disciples for their party spirit,  a spirit which criticizes or belittles others. How does he correct their thinking?

[Disciples: We saw another man doing miracles.                                                Yeshu: Yes; there are others who serve me.                                                    Disciples: But he wasn’t one of us.                                                                    Yeshu: That’s right; but he is no enemy of ours.                                                Disciples: But he cast out demons speaking in Your Name                                Yeshu: Yes; but not speaking in a bad way. And even other persons – yes, whoever he or she is – who do no more than give you a drink because you are Mine, they will also be rewarded by me.]

Let’s consider this ‘truly’ saying of Yeshu: about what did he ‘truly speak’ to them so solemnly? What sort of persons were they? and what was their ‘reward’? Was it the reward of a future spent in heaven? Read on for further understanding.