Mark 9:42-49

Mark 9:42-49 “And if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck. 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 into hell, where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to sin, 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 sin, 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 “‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’ Everyone will be salted with fire.

Without Jesus and his redemptive work, justice by fire will happen eventually to all sin. God will not allow injustice to reign in his eternal domain. When we sin against one another, we tip the scales of justice. To right that scale there must be a payback, a judgement. People sometimes wonder why a person who has been mistreated or an ethnic group that has been enslaved will not give up their demands for justice even though years have gone by, maybe centuries. Well, there is a demand in everyone's heart for justice. Arguments, fights, wars are many times the product of seeking justice. People question why two former lovers have such hostility for each other. Why cannot they just go on with their lives and accept the present situation as it is, but they are seeking justice. They want the scale to be righted. Someday justice, righteousness (right standing), correctness will be implemented completely, and that will require God's fiery judgement. No sin, no offense, no transgression, no crime, no slight, no rudeness, no lust, no imperfection will ever go into eternity without the scales righted. That sin, that hurt, that act of abomination will have to be paid for.

The scale has to be righted. Judgement has to be meted out by a righteous God. He cannot overlook sin. In the above passage, Jesus is talking about that final judgement. He is telling the disciples everyone's works will be tried by fire. Those sinful deeds that have not been covered by the blood of Jesus will face eternal judgement, judgement so horrible that it would have better for you not to have lived. In this scripture He figuratively relates that it would have better for your eyes, your foot, your torso not to have lived than to go through the fires of hell. The justice scale will be righted. People believe that they can get away with an awful deed or even a hurting word or a slight to someone (even their mate), but they can't. God is completely righteous. He can not ignore even the mildest offense. Jesus says in this passage, if you hurt a little one to the point that his or her life crashes around him or her in sin, you better prepare yourself for an awful hellfire judgement. Earlier in this chapter Jesus says, “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.” Jesus is saying that we should treat little ones and each other (for we are all children of God) with love: with tenderness and with a servant's heart. We should treat and serve others as if we were treating and serving Jesus and God himself. BUT IF WE MISTREAT EACH OTHER, HURT EACH OTHER, DESTROY EACH OTHER, WE ARE DOING THE SAME TO JESUS, TO GOD HIMSELF.

Remember, we are all made in the image of God. When we sin against each other, we are sinning against God. When we "welcome" each other, we are welcoming God. God will not let any sin against him prevail. Everyone will be salted with fire. Everyone will be tried by fire, and if our works don't hold up, if there is justice to be meted out because we brought our sins before him without the forgiveness of sins which comes through Jesus Christ, we will experience hellfire. God is not like humans. God does not forget; He remembers from generation to generation. Without Christ, without repentance, people will not be forgiven, nations will not be forgiven: all will pay the ultimate price for unforgiven sin. Are you like an empty perfume bottle where even the scent is not there anymore? Are you still rattling around, harboring thoughts that aren't pure, that have no place in the kingdom of God? If so, seek his face. Remember, nothing slips by God. Ask him again to fill you up with his love, to make you what He wants you to be. Find your forgiveness under the fountain of blood that flows for you continually. Let righteousness permeate your life and your thoughts. Let God take his rightful place in your life. Then judgement will pass you by--your worldly, carnal works might be destroyed, but your life as a child of God will be forever assured. Mercy and grace are your inheritance in Christ--walk in him today.