Hello, welcome to the podcast, Bible Wisdom Today. My name is Stan Watkins.

The Bible has always been an important foundation for my personal faith, leading me to complete a Bible degree and enter Christian ministry, ultimately going with my wife and family to Europe for 6 years. There I served in the areas of Bible teaching and music. Since returning to the states, I have supported my local church as I have had opportunity, but now I would like a more regular outlet for teaching God’s word.

Understanding the Bible is not simply a matter of belief that it is God’s word. The Bible was written long ago, in a foreign language, within an alien culture, using unfamiliar literary styles. Today’s Bible student must overcome each of these obstacles. This podcast is for those willing to do the hard work to discover God's wisdom for life today.

In our last episode we saw Jesus begin systematically revealing himself and his mission to his followers. He told them directly and unambiguously that he would suffer, die, and rise again. He took a select few up on a mountain where he was transfigured before them, displaying the glory of his divine nature in his physical appearance. He also delivered a young boy from the assault of an evil spirit, which had left him in a catatonic state. As he lifted him up to stand, he gave a preview of his own coming resurrection. This deliberate teaching for the disciples occurred as they made the long journey by foot from Galilee to Jerusalem for the last time, filling his disciples with questions and foreboding.

Today, in Episode 14, Jesus and his disciples continue their journey, and Jesus continues to instruct them. He predicts his passion again and the disciples misunderstand again. The disciples still expect Jesus to set up an earthly kingdom immediately and they argue among themselves over who will be the greatest in his kingdom. Jesus corrects them by telling them that anyone who wants to be first must be the last, the servant of all. He goes on to warn them against causing other believers to stumble, using the strongest rhetoric possible. Along their way, Jesus is tested again by the Pharisees who question him about divorce. Jesus acknowledges what Moses told them but then takes them further back in history to God’s original intent for marriage to be a forever covenant. In some ways, this section can be difficult to understand, but Jesus’ radical, absolute expectation for sold-out followers is totally clear, which is why I have entitled this episode “Uncompromising Discipleship.”

Jesus predicts his passion again and the disciples misunderstand again (9:30-41)

We will begin reading with Mark 9:30.

They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.” But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.
 They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest. 
 Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.” 
 He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”
 Mark 9:30-37

When Mark says that they left “that place,” he must mean Caesarea Philippi, the last-named geographic location where Peter declared that Jesus was the Messiah, where he was transfigured on a nearby mountain and delivered a young boy from a demon at the mountain’s foot. Now they passed through Galilee on their way south to Jerusalem. Jesus’ Galilean ministry had now come to an end. We can sense the melancholy as Jesus only passes through the place where he once lived. He does not seek out public ministry but focuses on teaching his disciples while he is still with them.

Jesus predicts his death, and resurrection for the second time. It is instructive to compare the three passion predictions in these chapters. Each of them includes Jesus’ death and resurrection after three days, but each time he also adds unique details. This is the shortest passion prediction, and the only new information we are given is that the Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. This is a divine passive, in that there is no actor stated. Who delivers him over? God does. Think about that! God handed his son over to humanity. Endless ink has been spilled on the question “Who killed Jesus?” and there are various human actors who played their part in that drama, but ultimately, it was God who initiated the plan. What a self-giving act of our gracious God!

The disciples did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask. Did they really not understand, or did they choose not to ask because they worried about his possible meaning? Perhaps they were afraid to ask him anything because the last time they responded to his predicted suffering, he had rebuked them sharply. 

We read that Jesus came to Capernaum for the last time, and to a particular house, perhaps the house of Peter. As we have seen before, houses are often places of private instruction in Mark, and Jesus asks them “What were you arguing about on the road?”

This stopped their conversation. It was a wordless confession, because they had been arguing about who was the greatest. What a jarring contrast with Jesus own humility! He talked about surrendering His life; the disciples argued about fulfilling theirs. Jewish culture was obsessed with rank and honor. As they journeyed to Jerusalem, his disciples still expected the kingdom to break out in the capital city with Jesus at its head, and with them close at hand. 

Jesus again sat down in the posture of the authoritative teacher. “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.” The word for “servant,” diakonos, is the ordinary Greek word for waiting tables. Jesus refers to personal devotion in service rather than service for hire or service as a slave. The Greek world considered service demeaning, but Jesus considered it exalting because it was an opportunity to do the will of God, to love your neighbor. By serving others, every believer can be great. Greatness is not reserved for the gifted or privileged.

Jesus illustrated this by placing a little child among them, possibly one of Peter’s own children. In first-century Palestine, when up to 50% of infants died before their first birthday, according to some estimates, children did not have full social status until their survival was relatively sure. Jesus places the child in their midst, not as an example of humility, but an example of littleness. The disciples are not told to be humble like a child, but to be humble like Jesus who embraces the little child. It is Jesus who demonstrates what it means to be the servant of all. “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”

“Teacher,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.” 
 “Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us. Truly I tell you, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the Messiah will certainly not lose their reward.
 Mark 9:38-41

It is a bit unclear why John says this. Did he expect Jesus to congratulate them for stopping this independent exorcist? Or had he heard Jesus’ call to welcome little children and now his heart was pricked. “I wonder if we did the right thing in stopping this fellow?” In any case, it certainly was absurd to tell this person to stop doing what Jesus’ chosen twelve had just been unable to do.

Jesus does not congratulate him. Someone who does a miracle in the name of Jesus is empowered by God; he cannot then easily turn his back on that calling. Doing miracles in Jesus’ name is a true indication of his heart. “Whoever is not against us is for us.” This may seem a bit extreme. Is there no middle ground? But it is intended as a challenge to the exclusivity of the disciples. As we will see, this section is filled with such hyperbolic statements.

Not only does Jesus say that this man should be allowed to continue ministry, but Jesus promises him a reward. “Truly I tell you, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the Messiah will certainly not lose their reward.” God rewards even the humblest act of kindness. Notice what Jesus says about his own disciples, “you belong to the Messiah.” This is truly affirming, given their recent misunderstanding and behavior. It also is a rare occurrence of Jesus calling himself “Messiah.”

The portion of scripture that we have just read and the next section down to verse 50 is connected by catchwords, brief words and phrases that are repeated. For example, in the part we have just read, the phrase “in my name” occurs four times.

·        Whoever welcomes one of the little children in my name (v. 37)

·        We saw someone driving out demons in your name (v. 38)

·        No one who does a miracle in my name can say anything bad about me (v. 39)

·        Anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name (v. 41)

Catchwords like these appear frequently in oral literature as a device to make the sayings easier to memorize. This tells us something about the history and compilation of Mark and the other gospels. It was common in the ancient world for followers of a significant person to gather a collection of sayings after their death. It appears that this is exactly what happened with the sayings of Jesus. They circulated in oral form before being included in the gospels. Each gospel writer included them in their own composition as they saw fit. These sayings appear in different contexts in various gospels. The fact that they come to us without a strong tie to the surrounding context makes conclusive interpretation more difficult.

Jesus’ call to uncompromising discipleship (9:42-50)

As we continue reading in verse 42, pay attention to the repeated words “cause to stumble,” which link these verses together.

“If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea. 
 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. 
 And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. 
 And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where
 “‘the worms that eat them do not die,
 and the fire is not quenched.’ 
 Mark 9:42-48

In this passage Jesus calls his followers to uncompromising discipleship.

Cause a little one to stumble

I already drew your attention to the repeated nature of the phrase “cause to stumble,” but what does it mean? “Stumble” has the same Greek root as our word “scandal.” It referred to an animal trap or a snare. This is not a random rock that we might trip over, but a trap that is deliberately set. Jesus warns of the seriousness of causing others to sin. In the immediate context, Mark may have meant it to apply to how the disciples had treated the independent exorcist. 

By including the phrase “those who believe in me” as the description of “little ones, Jesus makes clear that he is not speaking of literal children, but of simple, ordinary followers. Jesus warns against destroying their faith. Those who did so would be subject to God’s judgment. He describes God’s wrath against such spiritual pride with hyperbole. “It would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea.” Millstones were huge stones used for grinding grain into flour. Some were six feet or more in diameter, requiring an ox or donkey to turn them. The Greek word here actually means “mule stone.” To die by drowning was uniquely terrifying to the Jewish people. They were not a sea -going people; the sea was a region of fear and uncertainty. To die by drowning with a huge weight around your neck would be one of the worst deaths imaginable. Jesus said that such a death would be better than the judgment you could expect from God for causing one of these little ones to stumble.

What does this mean for us? How might Christians today ensnare another child of God? One way would be by direct temptation, such as inviting someone to be unfaithful, to gossip, or to cheat. You might say to a Christian business owner, “Could I pay you by cash, so that you wouldn’t have to run it through your books. That way we would both save on taxes.” This is not a shrewd suggestion, but a direct temptation to sin.

Another way to cause a little one to stumble is by indirect temptation. You might provoke them to jealousy by flaunting your wealth or provoke them to anger by your unkind words. Perhaps you set a snare for your brother or sister through your sinful example, flaunting your liberty or mislabeling your wealth as God’s blessing. Finally, it is also possible to ensnare your fellow Christian through the things that you do not do. Instead of offering hospitality as God commands, you call the stranger “illegal;” instead of valuing your brother with Jesus-style love, you call them “unnatural.” These are just a few of the ways you can set a deliberate trap for your fellow believer and place your own neck in danger.

Cause yourself to stumble

After this first warning against causing little ones to stumble, Mark shifts the focus to Jesus’ warnings against jeopardizing oneself. Here, Jesus continues to use a figure of speech called hyperbole, what we commonly call “exaggeration.” You probably heard it as I read through the passage,

·        If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off

·        If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off

·        If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out

We know that Jesus was not suggesting literal mutilation of our bodies, even though some ancient Christians thought he was. We know this because bodily mutilation was strictly forbidden in the Old Testament, except for circumcision. We also know this because self-harm does not actually solve the problem of sin. It is not your hand which causes you to steal; it is not your foot which leads you where you should not go; it is not your eye which makes you lust. Rather, Jesus teaches a broader message. We need to amputate our bad habits. We prioritize spiritual purity and righteousness above all else, even if we must make painful sacrifices, even giving up those things we think have incalculable value. 

The apostle Paul put it this way:

If you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
 Romans 8:13

He also wrote similarly in Colossians 3:

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 
 Colossians 3:5-6

Jesus says it is better to turn aside from our natural desires in order to enter the kingdom of God. In the Lord’s prayer, we pray “Your kingdom come, your will be done, in earth as it is in heaven.” In the kingdom of God, God’s will is done perfectly. It is worth any sacrifice, any self-denial to do the will of God, even if it means cutting out a bad habit, abandoning a secret pleasure, giving up a dangerous friendship, or removing something precious to you.

Gehenna

We now come to a discussion of that word which probably jumped out at you when I read this passage earlier. Three times, Jesus speaks of going into hell. The word translated “hell” is the Greek word, Gehenna, which is equivalent to a Hebrew geographical placename, the Valley of Hinnom, or sometimes the Valley of the Son of Hinnom. This is a steep ravine outside the walls of Jerusalem on the southwest. It is first mentioned in the book of Joshua as a border marker between two tribes, but later in Israel’s history the story became much darker. The Israelites adopted some of the religious practices of the people around them, including the worship of Molech, a God which preferred child sacrifices. They built a worship site for this practice in the Valley of Hinnom. We read in the Old Testament history that both kings Ahaz and Manasseh made their children “pass through the fire” to Molech (2 Chronicles 28:3; 33:6). The worship site for this practice was called “Topheth,” which has the same root as the word “drum,” so called because they used a drum to cover the sound of screaming children.

Later, king Josiah sought to purge all the evil worship practices which the children of Israel had adopted. As part of this reform, he desecrated the Topheth to Molech in the Valley of Hinnom by turning it into a garbage dump and setting it on fire. This became a permanent feature outside the city of Jerusalem, where all the garbage of the city was discarded. This was not a relatively clean landfill of our present day, but the place to dispose of both human and animal waste, dead animal carcasses, and even the bodies of enemy warriors. The fire and wretched stinking smoke was a constant feature just outside the ancient city.

This burning garbage dump was still operating in Jesus’ day and had become a potent metaphor for divine wrath and judgment. When we read the word “hell” we have a theological reaction. When Jesus used the word “Gehenna,” his listeners would have responded emotionally, viscerally. Gehenna was a place of defilement, ritual uncleanness, and total degradation. It brought feelings of horror and utter revulsion. While Gehenna had become part of the religious vocabulary of the still-developing Jewish understanding of the afterlife, neither Mark nor Jesus meant to teach about the afterlife in this passage, but rather to teach about discipleship. I would like to support that statement with an explanation of another literary element we see here, the practice of poetic parallelism 

Parallelism

Large sections of the Old Testament are written in Hebrew poetry, and certain brief portions of the New Testament, also, including this passage. Hebrew poetry arranges the text in a series of couplets, or occasionally triplets, which have some relationship with each other. This arrangement is called parallelism. There are a variety of relationships which a Hebrew author might use, including synonymous parallelism, where each line communicates the same idea in different words, and antithetic parallelism, which is a parallelism of opposites. The type of parallelism in this section is generally called synthetic parallelism, but might better be termed “developmental,” in that the second line develops the idea introduced in the first.

This passage contains four couplets and each parallelism is an “if...then” statement, although the “then” is implied. Each parallel couplet takes the form:

“If…(something, something, something)

“It would be better…(something, something, something)

Let me read this poetic passage again, so that you might listen for the parallel construction.

“If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, 

it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea. 

If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. 

It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. 

And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. 

It is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two feet and be thrown into hell, where the fire never goes out.

And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. 

It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, 
 where “the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched.”

In each parallel statement, the first line gives a warning, the second line says that it would be better to die a gruesome death. In the first warning, the gruesome death is to be drowned in the sea with a weight tied around your neck. In the second, third and fourth warnings, the gruesome death is to be thrown into Gehenna. The first warning sets the pattern, the rest follow the same model. The important point is Jesus’ call to uncompromising discipleship in this life, rather than a warning of everlasting punishment in the next.

Another aspect of parallelism which the author uses in this passage is the increasing intensification throughout. This is a specific aspect of Hebrew parallelism called climactic parallelism. We see this intensification in various ways. For example, being thrown into a burning garbage dump is a long agonizing death, while drowning is over quite quickly. Also, the first warning is against causing little ones to stumble, but the next three become more personal, warning against causing yourself to stumble. Finally, the last description of Gehenna is the longest, where “the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched.” It is not just the meaning of the words but the increased length of the description that brings these warnings to a climactic ending.

This final description of Gehenna is a direct quote from the last verse of Isaiah. The worms that do not die are not simple earthworms, but maggots which consume rotting flesh. In a normal situation where a dead animal carcass is lying by itself, maggots will consume it until there is nothing more to consume, then crawl into the soil to develop into the pupa stage and eventually fly away. In a situation like Gehenna, where the food supply is constantly replenished, the presence of writhing maggots remains constant also. In some Bible translations you may find this reference to worms and unquenchable fire after each of the final three warnings. Apparently a later scribe made this insertion, because the earliest manuscripts include the Isaiah quote only at the end, where it makes a forceful warning against trivializing the call to following Jesus.

Final short sayings

After these warnings, Mark includes three more short sayings, arranged again by catchwords. The reference to the fire of Gehenna first prompts a comment about fire and salt, then there are two more statements about salt. Let me read these three short sayings.

Everyone will be salted with fire.
 “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? 
 Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”
 Mark 9:49-50

The statement “everyone will be salted with fire” is found only in Mark. This is a reference to the use of salt in sacrifice. According to Leviticus 2, all grain offerings were to be seasoned with salt. Salt was costly. Just like a sacrifice is burnt up in worship, following Jesus is also totally consuming. The Apostle Paul used similar symbolism when he wrote to the Romans,

I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
 Romans 12:1

When Jesus says “salt is good.” He refers to another use of salt—to make food more palatable. The expression “if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again,” seems odd, at first, since salt itself is a stable compound and cannot degrade. In Jesus’ time, however, most salt was mined on the shores of the Dead Sea, where it often came mixed with impurities that made it unfit to use. Similarly, we can become adulterated with the values of this world, becoming unfit for God’s purposes.

Finally, we read that we are to have salt among ourselves and be at peace with each other. This refers to salt being used as a peace covenant, another use of salt in the ancient near east. In solemn ceremony, two parties would come together and eat the salt which the other had brought. The disciples obviously needed Jesus’ reminder to be at peace, after arguing who was the greatest and dissuading an independent disciple from doing miracles in the name of Jesus.

After completing this study of a difficult, heavy passage, I would like to move on to something easier and more straight forward. As I turn to Mark chapter 10, the heading in my Bible says simply “Divorce.” Since I have committed to teaching through the book of Mark, we will now take up the subject of God’s intent for marriage, with the reminder that Jesus offers no retreat from his serious call to uncompromising discipleship.

God’s intent for marriage (10:1-12)

Mark 10:1:

Jesus then left that place and went into the region of Judea and across the Jordan. Again crowds of people came to him, and as was his custom, he taught them. 
 Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”
 “What did Moses command you?” he replied.
 They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.” 
 “It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,” Jesus replied. “But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
 When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. He answered, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”
 Mark 10:1-12

When Mark says that Jesus left that place, he must mean Capernaum, which was Mark’s last geographic reference. Jews traveling from Galilee to Judea would typically avoid going through Samaria, which lay between these two regions, by crossing the Jordan river and walking south along its eastern side, until they could cross back over at Jericho. On this trip, Jesus followed that route, which took him into the region of Herod Antipas, who had beheaded John the Baptist at the bidding of his wife, Herodias, because John had disparaged their mutual divorce and remarriage. This is significant background information, as the Pharisees now come to Jesus to test him with a question about divorce.

“Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” What a surprising question, since all Judaism permitted divorce, but divorce was still controversial. Jesus’ listeners would have known that the religious controversy involved the proper reasons for divorce. They would have understood the Pharisees’ question as “Is divorce allowed for any reason other than adultery?” . Some teachers held an open view, saying that divorce was allowed for any reason while others held a narrow view, saying divorce was allowed only for immorality. This narrow view was supported by the teaching of Moses in Deuteronomy 24.

If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, and if…she becomes the wife of another man, and her second husband…writes her a certificate of divorce…or if he dies, then her first husband…is not allowed to marry her again.
 Deuteronomy 24:1-4

The point of Moses’ instruction was to discourage hasty divorce by requiring a written reason and to provide security for the woman by giving her the right to remarry. The fundamental purpose of divorce was to allow remarriage.

The Pharisees’ question was also a hostile one. Mark says they “came and tested him.” However he answered he would turn a segment of Judaism against him, and they also might get him in trouble with Herod Antipas by linking Jesus with, John the Baptist, his enemy.

Jesus was aware of their schemes and he redirected the discussion. “What did Moses command you?” They answered honestly. Jesus then surprised them by not accepting Moses’ words as conclusive on this matter. The purpose of the law of Moses was not to make divorce acceptable, he said, but to reduce the hardship of its consequences. Jesus wanted to recover God’s original intention for marriage, not argue about possible exceptions. God conceded to the human situation “because your hearts were hard,” Jesus said, but that was not his original intention.

He then turns to Genesis, an earlier book in the writings of Moses. In Jewish thinking, the further back you go in history to support your position, the stronger the argument is. Jesus makes three points about God’s plan for marriage. First, God made them male and female. As a creation of God, woman is not man’s subject but his equal. Second marriage forms a new family. “A man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife.” His obligation to his wife is greater than his obligation to his parents. Finally, the two are united by becoming one flesh. They become a new creation. Jesus then concludes, “What God has joined together, let no one separate.” The “one flesh” of marriage was never meant to become two again. Marriage was a covenant act before God.

Later, when he is in a house, where Jesus typically offers his private teaching in Mark, the disciples ask for more clarification. He answers, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her.” This was startling, since the Jews reckoned adultery against a woman’s father or against a woman’s husband, but not against the woman herself. Jesus, however, gives women the same status as free moral agents. He also gives a woman full moral culpability if she initiates divorce and subsequently commits adultery by remarriage. Jewish marriage and divorce policy made the man the leader, but Jesus said that neither man nor woman control the marriage; only God.

What are we to make of this teaching for our lives today? Jesus’ teaching in Mark does not contain any exceptions allowing for divorce or remarriage, because his focus was on recovering God’s original intent for a life-long marriage covenant, rather than arguing about possible exceptions. At the same time, we know that the dissolution of marriage was allowed in other passages of scripture. In the parallel passage where Matthew retells the same event, Jesus himself includes the exception of adultery. The Apostle Paul gives another somewhat surprising allowance for divorce when an unbelieving spouse initiates the divorce. In that case the believing spouse is free to remarry (1 Cor. 7:15). Some believe that Paul also makes an additional exception in 1 Corinthians 6. If someone was divorced before they became a Christian, they are washed of all previous sins and may remarry if they wish. We also know that some, today, find themselves in an unsafe marriage due to abuse. Surely, this also is not God’s intention, and in today’s culture it may be necessary to legally dissolve that marriage in order to provide the abused spouse with the safety they need.

All this discussion about possible exceptions which might allow for divorce misses the point, however. God’s original intention for marriage was a life-long covenant. In our culture of temporary commitments and casual divorce, God still calls us to commitment. We balance this with the understanding that the same God who allowed Moses to give a concession for adultery, knows that we still live in a sinful world. As James Edwards said in his commentary on Mark, it was not Jesus’ intent “to shackle those who fail in marriage with debilitating guilt.”[1] God does still forgive, but we should not be quick to seek relief from an uncomfortable marriage. We choose to honor God’s original plan for marriage and thus answer Jesus’ call to uncompromising discipleship.

Closing Comments

Today we have dealt with some heavy issues. We heard Jesus predict his passion a second time and the disciples misunderstand again. We heard Jesus persistent call to an uncompromising discipleship including hyperbolic references to cutting off hands, plucking out eyes, and dying a gruesome death. Finally, we heard Jesus’ perspective on divorce, drawing us back to God’s first design for marriage.

In our next episode Jesus commends children for the ease with which they accept the kingdom of God and warns the rich of their difficult entry. Jesus predicts his death for a third time and again the disciples misunderstand. This time James and John ask to sit on his right and his left in his kingdom.

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[1] Edwards, James R. The gospel according to Mark. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2016.