Mark
9:38-50
- Reading the Text:
- NRSV (with link to Anglicized NRSV) at Oremus Bible Browser.
- Greek Interlinear Bible, ScrTR, ScrTR t, Strong, Parsing, CGTS, CGES id, AV.
- The Bible Gateway: NIV, NASB, CEV, The Message, KJV, etc.
- The Blue Letter Bible. KJV, alternate versions, Greek text with concordance, commentaries.
- The World Wide Study Bible includes commentary & sermons.
- Historical References, Commentary and
Comparative Texts:
- The Five Gospels Parallels, John W. Marshall, University of Toronto.
- Stephen Carlson's color-coded Greek Synoptic Parallels: 9:49-50.
- Comparative texts at (Rutgers University Dept of Religion)
Mahlon H. Smith's Into His Own:
Perspective on the World of Jesus companion to the historical study of Christian
texts:
- Sin and Justice from Mishna and Babylonian Talmud.
- Spirit Possession and Exorcism from Philo, Lucian, Josephus, the Babylonian Talmud, Midrash, Philostratus.
- Chapter XLVI of The First Epistle to the Corinthians, Clement of Rome (ca. 96).
- XIII.29; XXV.15, 19, 21-24, 26; Tatian's Diatessaron (c. 150-160).
- II.XXXII.1, Adversus Haereses, Irenaeus of Lyons. (c. 180)
- Chapter IX, On Modesty, Tertullian (c. 217)
- From the Catena Aurea, Patristic Commentary by St Thomas Aquinas.
- From the Geneva Notes.
- "We must be seasoned and sprinkled by God, so that we may be both acceptable sacrifices unto him, and also so that in our being knit together we may season one another."
- From
Matthew
Henry's Commentary.
- "Doubtless, remorse of conscience and keen self-reflection are this never-dying worm. Surely it is beyond compare better to undergo all possible pain, hardship, and self-denial here, and to be happy for ever hereafter, than to enjoy all kinds of worldly pleasure for a season, and to be miserable for ever."
- From
Wesley's Notes.
- "St. Paul had learnt a better temper, when he rejoiced that Christ was preached, even by those who were his personal enemies. But to confine religion to them that follow us, is a narrowness of spirit which we should avoid and abhor."
- Of Hell (Mark 9:38). Sermon by John Wesley.
- A Caution Against Bigotry (Mark 9:38-39): Sermon by John Wesley.
- From the
Commentary on the Whole Bible
(Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, 1871).
- "The reference to salting the sacrifice is of course to that maxim of the Levitical law, that every acceptable sacrifice must be sprinkled with salt, to express symbolically its soundness, sweetness, wholesomeness, acceptability. But as it had to be roasted first, we have here the further idea of a salting with fire."
- From The People's
New Testament, B.W. Johnson, 1891.
- "Have salt in yourselves. The spirit of self-sacrifice, and thus you will "have peace with one another.""
- Contemporary Commentary, Studies, and Exegesis:
- Those Who Are Not against Us Are For Us, audio telling, story in episodes, graphic, audio and written commentaries. Go Tell Communications, Biblical Storytelling for the Global Village, 2012.
-
Commentary,
Mark 9:38-50, Paul S. Berge, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org,
2009.
- "Jesus' concern for "little ones" or "powerless ones" is ultimate."
- Comments (commentary) and Clippings (technical notes for in-depth study), Chris Haslam, Anglican Diocese of Montreal.
- A Brief Commentary on the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 8:27 - 10:52, Carl W. Conrad. (Click superscript numbers for commentary.)
- "Whoever Is Not with Me Is against Me..." "If Your Hand Offends You, Cut It off; Salted with Fire," Michael A. Turton's Historical Commentary on the Gospel of Mark, "a complete verse-by-verse commentary on the Gospel of Mark, focusing on the historicity of people, places, events, and sayings in the world of the Gospel of Mark."
-
"First
Thoughts on Year B Gospel Passages in the Lectionary,"
Pentecost 17, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church
in Australia.
- "It is not so much that salt ceases to be salt but it becomes contaminated by additions over time, dirt, stones, etc, so that it becomes useless. He links salt with peace. In the context salt is an image of integrity and wholeness."
- "Exegetical
Notes" by Brian Stoffregen at CrossMarks
Christian Resources.
- "When the purity of our faith is adulterated, or perhaps "watered down", the pure "salt" may slowly slip away leaving us with a "tasteless" faith and it may be impossible to restore the pure one."
-
Holy Textures, Understanding the Bible in its own time and in ours,
Mark 9:38-50, David Ewart, 2009.
- "Today's lesson has enough wisdom for a month of Sundays. What can be read in 5 minutes may take a life-time to ponder and practice before we have been inwardly formed by what the voice of the text this day."
-
Join the Feast,
Mark 9:38-50, Charlotte Elia, Union PSCE,
2009.
- "This text invites communities to identify the self-constructed stumbling blocks that prevent flourishing. In other words, are there subtle ways in which the church sabotages its own ministries?"
-
"Of
Salt and Stumbling Blocks," Paige G. Evers, Sabbatheology,
The Crossings Community, 2009.
- "When the heart trusts in God and what he has done through Jesus' cross, the heart no longer stumbles, tripped up by its own motives and desires. Instead, it soars."
- Causing One of these Little Ones to Stumble, The Way of the Cross: Markan Texts for Late Pentecost, Donald H. Juel, Texts in Context, Word & World, Luther Northwestern Theological School, 1994.
- "Unquenchable Fire," study guide, Robert B. Kruschwitz, (other resources at) "Heaven and Hell," Christian Reflection, The Center for Christian Ethics at Baylor University, 2002.
- "Millstones, Hell," Gospel Analysis, Sermons from Seattle, Pastor Edward F. Markquart, Grace Lutheran Church, Seattle, Washington. Detailed background and exegesis.
- "Temptations to Sin," Rev. Bryan Findlayson, Lectionary Bible Studies and Sermons, Pumpkin Cottage Ministry Resources. Includes detailed textual notes.
-
"Search and Restore," Stephen Fowl, The Christian Century,
2006.
- "Jesus neither needs nor wants bouncers guarding the door to the grand feast he is initiating. Nevertheless, Jesus is not blurring the lines between believers and unbelievers. Rather, he displays and commands a generous openness to those who believe in him and are doing powerful deeds in his name, yet for reasons undefined have not joined the main body of disciples"
- Marginally Mark, by Brian McGowan, Anglican priest in Western Australia.
-
"Stumble,"
Jerry Goebel, One
Family Outreach. "Focus on scripture from a justice perspective." Exegesis, study, and teen study
and activities.
- "Compassion might well up for the state of the helpless, the mikros. But Christ tells us to run to those who have been rejected, the elachistos?the implication being that they have performed some act that has caused their exclusion. Is that where my faith commands me?"
-
"Domesticating God's Love," Ordinary 26B, Fr. Gerry Pierse, C.Ss.R., from Sundays Into
Silence: Reflections on the Sunday Gospels in the Light of Christian
Meditation. Claretian Publications.
- "Jealousy and rivalry are to be found everywhere that there are people, but in some way they are the special vices of religious and so-called holy people."
-
"Scandal,"
Larry Broding's Word-Sunday.Com: A
Catholic Resource for This Sunday's Gospel. Adult Study, Children's
Story, Family Activity, Support Materials.
- "What scandals have you heard about in the past two months? How did they affect you?"
- Wellspring of the Gospel, Ordinary 26B, Catherine McElhinney and Kathryn Turner, Weekly Wellsprings.
-
"The
Millstone," Joel Marcus, The Christian
Century, 2000. At Religion Online.
- "...the same Jesus who in Mark 9 says that it would be better if child abusers had never been born, in Mark 10 points to his own abused body as a sign of hope for all."
-
"The
Costliness of Grace," Ronald Goetz, The Christian Century,
1986. At Religion Online.
- "Jesus has earned the right to discuss with us the gravity of our sin, having forgiven us our sin in such mutilating agony. Perhaps his forgiveness of us might evoke in us, if only for a moment, a willingness to wonder about the pride we take in our modernity, our self-sufficiency, our self-justification."
- Articles & Background:
-
-
"'Better
Pluck Out Your Eye,'" Craig A. Evans, Beliefnet.
- "Why does Jesus use such disturbing imagery when cautioning us against sin?"
-
- A number of articles about Salt
at Jewish Heritage Online Monthly. See especially:
- A
covenant of salt: Unbreakable like salt or a duty for all times
- "Scholar Jacob Milgrom notes that salt stands in contrast to leaven and other fermentatives, whose use is forbidden on the altar. He thus perceives salt as a symbol of permanence, as opposed to leaven which produces change. Therefore, a "salt covenant" suggests an unbreakable covenant."
- Salt
as a Blessing and Curse in Ancient Times
- "Contamination being attributed in ancient and primitive thought to the machinations of demons, and salt being regarded as an incorruptible and cleansing substance, it was natural that the latter become a universally regarded potent against the evil forces."
- A
covenant of salt: Unbreakable like salt or a duty for all times
- "Demonology in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament," Hermann Lichtenberger, Orion center for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Associated Literature, 2004.
-
- Recommended articles
from ATLAS, an online collection of religion and theology journals, are
linked below.
ATLAS Access options are available for academic institutions, alumni of
selected theological schools, and clergy/church offices.
- Carder, Kenneth L.,
"Unexclusive Gospel," The Christian Century, 1997.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Deatrick, Eugene P.,
"Salt, Soil, Savior," Biblical Archaeologist, 1962.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Fleddermann, Harry, "The Discipleship Discourse (Mark 9:33-50)," The Catholic Biblical
Quarterly, 1981.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Goetz, Ronald,
"The Costliness of Grace," The Christian Century, 1986.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Henderson, Ian H.,
"'Salted with Fire' (Mark 9.42-50): Style, Oracles and (Socio)Rhetorical
Gospel Criticism," Journal for the Study of the New Testament,
2000.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Horvath, Tibor,
"Is HEMON in Mk 9,40 Authentic?" Journal of Ecumenical Studies,
1971.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Juel, Donald H., 'The Way of the
Cross: Markan Texts for Late Pentecost," Word & World, 1994.
(Section on this text begins on p. 355).
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Koester, Helmut, "Mark 9:43-47 and
Quintilian 8,3,75," Harvard Theological Review, 1978.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Lane, Belden C.,
"Blending Salt and Spice, Joining Wisdom and Prophecy," The Christian
Century, 1989.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Marcus, Joel,
"The Millstone," The Christian Century, 2000.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Pelikan, Jaroslav, "The Man Who
Belongs to the World," The Christian Century, 1985.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Ricoeur, P.,
"Ye Are the Salt of the Earth," Ecumenical Review, 1958.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Ross, J.M.,
"Some Unnoticed Points in the Text of the New Testament," Novum
Testamentum, 1983. (Section on Mark 9:38, 44 & 46 begins on page 63.)
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials
- Carder, Kenneth L.,
"Unexclusive Gospel," The Christian Century, 1997.
- Reviews:
- Sermons:
-
-
-
- "Being Salt to the World," the Rev. Gemechis Desta Buba, Day 1, 2003.
- "Quality Above Power," Dr. Myron Augsburger, 30 Good Minutes, Chicago Sunday Evening Club, 1995.
- "Exclusive Rights to the Gospel," John Jewell, 2000.
- Father Andrew M. Greeley, "Priest, Author, Sociologist," Commentary and Homily:
-
- With Children:
-
"Pass the Salt, Please,"
- "People Talk about Sam and Rosanni," children's story by Larry Broding, word-sunday.com.
- "A Cup of cold Water Is a Wonderful Gift," Sunday School Lessons: Family Bible Study, art projects, music, stories, etc.
- Mark 9 & 10 Crossword, Don Crownover's Bible Puzzles.
-
"Pass the Salt, Please,"
- Drama:
- "A Millstone," from A Certain Jesus by Jose Ignacio and Maria Lopez Vigil. Ideal for catechetical and liturgical dramatization of today's gospel. Claretian Publications.
- Graphics & Bulletin Materials:
- Clip Art Images: Mark 9:38-48, Misioneros Del Sagrado Corazón en el Perú.
- Images for this week's readings, Pitts Theology Library Digital Image Archive.
- Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48, Mark 9:38-40, Mark 9:38-40, Liturgical Drawing, Maria d.c. Zamora, Claretian Resources, Philippines. ("Download and use these for free.")
- Mark 9:38-48 at Cerezo Barredo's weekly gospel illustration. Liberation emphasis.
- Commercial Site: "Anger Management," (Mark 9:38-50) graphics/films/worship ideas from Lumicon.
- Hymns and Music:
- Contemporary/Praise Song suggestions, Together to Celebrate, David MacGregor.
- Fine Arts Images Linked at The Text This Week's Art Index:
- Movies scenes with the following themes,
listed at The Text This Week's Movie Concordance:
- Doers of the Word
- "Possession" by Evil
- Covenant (salt as symbol of covenant - "If salt has lost it's saltiness" = "if a covenant has been violated")
- Clean/Unclean
- Sacrifice
- Servanthood
- Study Links and Resources for the Book of Mark
