Introduction
In Mark 9, Jesus has just told his disciples again that he will be delivered into human hands, put to death, and rise three days later. They understand none of it, and they are afraid to ask him about it. And yet, on the road, they argue about which of them is the greatest. It is in this gap between what Christ says and what his disciples do that Jesus takes the time to give them concrete, visible, practical marks, qualities that outsiders can see in a life that truly depends on him. This text serves as a mirror for us: it forces us to examine ourselves closely and to realize that what God desires for us and our present life are sometimes quite far apart.
Sermon Outline
1. The willingness to accept suffering for the Gospel
- Jesus announces his death and resurrection to his disciples; they do not understand, and they are afraid to ask him about it.
- What Jesus is about to endure, his disciples will have to endure, at least in part, in their turn.
- No, we will not all die for our faith. But if we follow Christ, we will suffer for him in one way or another.
- Some will suffer from resisting sins they love, others from the rejection of friends or family, others still from persecution for the Gospel.
- Christ suffered first; to follow Christ is to accept paying a price for him, just as he paid the price for us.
2. The humility that serves the little ones
- The disciples argue about who is the greatest; Jesus tells them: "If anyone wants to be first, he must be last of all and servant of all."
- We do the same thing, just more discreetly: we constantly compare ourselves to feel like we are better.
- True greatness is not seen in our impressive lives, but in service, especially service to the weak and vulnerable.
- Jesus takes a child, places him among them, and says: "Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me."
- What Jesus says applies to children, but also to anyone who can give us nothing back: the shy, the lonely, those with disabilities, those who go unnoticed.
3. The humility that preserves unity among those who believe in Christ
- John wants to stop a man who is casting out demons in Jesus' name, because he is not part of their group.
- It is ironic: the disciples try to stop someone from doing what they themselves had failed to do just a few verses earlier.
- Jesus does not commend them; he corrects them: "Do not stop him. Whoever is not against us is for us."
- He is not saying that everyone who appears Christian actually is; he deliberately overstates his point to shape how his disciples view others.
- We must not be too quick to treat someone as an enemy because they are not part of our group or do not share our convictions on secondary matters. God is big enough to do his work despite our mistakes and theirs.
4. A radical obedience: being holy
- "If anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea."
- This verse is a transition verse: it applies both to unity among disciples and to holiness. Jesus is not talking here about confronting a brother's sin, but about not leading others into sin.
- Then Jesus continues: "If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off." He uses hyperbole: he is not asking anyone to actually cut off a hand or gouge out an eye, but he wants to show us how serious he is about sin in our own lives.
- Our Creator knows better than we do how he made us; he has the right to tell us how to live.
- Being holy matters more than being right, than being fulfilled, than feeling good, than avoiding suffering.
- We do not obey God in order to be saved, nor to stay saved, nor to escape hell. We obey God because, if Christ died to free us from hell, continuing to feed the sin that should have sent us there is no longer compatible with who we are: it is like oil and water, it no longer mixes.
- Concretely: cutting off certain relationships that lead us into sin, giving up certain habits, opening up to a trusted brother or sister, being strict about what we watch, what we listen to, and with whom we allow ourselves to be alone.
5. Salt: having the taste of Christ
- "Everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how will you make it salty again?"
- The fire Jesus speaks of is the fire of suffering and persecution for the Gospel: those who accept this life are purified, made like Christ.
- Salt is also about taste. A true disciple of Christ has a certain taste, and that taste is the taste of Christ.
- There are people with whom you spend half an hour and come away with more desire to follow Jesus, even if they barely spoke of him.
- The final question: have you lost your saltiness? Will people see Christ when they look at you, or will they see someone chasing the same dreams as everyone else, who simply goes to church on Sunday?
Key Takeaways
- The marks of a disciple of Christ are not first and foremost internal and invisible; Jesus takes the time to give marks that can be seen from the outside.
- Following Christ means suffering for him in one way or another. It is inevitable, and Jesus himself suffered first.
- True greatness, in Jesus' eyes, is measured by the service you render to those who can give you nothing back.
- A brother or sister who follows Christ but is not part of our group remains a brother or sister: God is big enough to do his work despite our differences.
- Holiness is not a spiritual comfort option; it is the normal path of the disciple who has understood why Christ died for him.
- A true disciple has a taste, a flavor, that makes others want to follow Jesus.
Personal Application
- What concrete suffering are you refusing to face because of your faith? A sin you don't want to give up, a friendship to rethink, a conversation to have with your family?
- Who in your life this week can give you nothing back? A child, an isolated neighbor, a vulnerable person: how will you serve them without anyone seeing?
- Is there a Christian, a church, a denomination you have too quickly dismissed because "it's not like ours"? What would you do if you took Jesus seriously when he says "whoever is not against us is for us"?
- What sin in your life needs to be dealt with as seriously as cutting off a hand? What concrete step can you take this week to no longer give that sin an inch of room?
- If a friend spent half an hour with you this week, would they want to follow Jesus more afterward? Take time to pray, asking God to restore his flavor wherever you have lost it.
Related Verses
Further reading
Frequently Asked Questions
If Jesus says a true disciple will suffer, does that mean if I don't suffer in my faith, I'm not a real Christian?
No, that is not what Jesus is saying. He says that whoever follows him seriously will encounter suffering, but that suffering takes very different forms from one life to another. For some, it will be persecution; for others, the pain of resisting a temptation they would love to give in to; for others still, the rejection of a loved one, loneliness, or a costly decision to remain faithful to Christ. If you never encounter any cost in your faith, the question to ask yourself is not "am I a Christian?" but rather: am I truly following Christ, or am I chasing the same dreams as everyone else while simply going to church on Sunday?
How can I tell whether I'm serving someone out of humility and not to be seen?
Jesus gives a very simple test: serve those who can give you nothing back. That is where your true motive is revealed. Serving a master, an important person, someone who can return the favor, can be done out of well-hidden self-interest. But speaking to a child as a fellow human being, listening at length to an isolated person, helping someone who will never know you helped them, that is not done to be seen, because there is nothing to gain from it. If you want to test your heart this week, choose an act of service that no one will see and watch what rises up in you.
How can I be firm about holiness without becoming legalistic or harsh toward others?
This is a real tension, and Jesus does not resolve it by simplifying it. He asks you to be radical with yourself ("if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off") while also being cautious toward others ("whoever is not against us is for us"). In other words: be strict about what you tolerate in yourself and generous about what you tolerate in your brother, as long as he proclaims Christ crucified. Legalism appears when this equation is reversed: hard on others and lenient with oneself. A disciple always keeps the energy of holiness for his own life and the energy of grace for others.
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