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Mark 9:33-50
The Message
Mark 9:33-50
The Message
So You Want First Place?
33 They came to Capernaum. When he was safe at home, he asked them, “What were you discussing on the road?”
34 The silence was deafening—they had been arguing with one another over who among them was greatest.
35 He sat down and summoned the Twelve. “So you want first place? Then take the last place. Be the servant of all.”
36-37 He put a child in the middle of the room. Then, cradling the little one in his arms, he said, “Whoever embraces one of these children as I do embraces me, and far more than me—God who sent me.”
* * *
38 John spoke up, “Teacher, we saw a man using your name to expel demons and we stopped him because he wasn’t in our group.”
39-41 Jesus wasn’t pleased. “Don’t stop him. No one can use my name to do something good and powerful, and in the next breath slam me. If he’s not an enemy, he’s an ally. Why, anyone by just giving you a cup of water in my name is on our side. Count on it that God will notice.
42 “On the other hand, if you give one of these simple, childlike believers a hard time, bullying or taking advantage of their simple trust, you’ll soon wish you hadn’t. You’d be better off dropped in the middle of the lake with a millstone around your neck.
43-48 “If your hand or your foot gets in God’s way, chop it off and throw it away. You’re better off maimed or lame and alive than the proud owner of two hands and two feet, godless in a furnace of eternal fire. And if your eye distracts you from God, pull it out and throw it away. You’re better off one-eyed and alive than exercising your twenty-twenty vision from inside the fire of hell.
49-50 “Everyone’s going through a refining fire sooner or later, but you’ll be well-preserved, protected from the eternal flames. Be preservatives yourselves. Preserve the peace.”
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Mark 9:33-50
New International Version
Mark 9:33-50
New International Version
33 They came to Capernaum.(A) When he was in the house,(B) he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” 34 But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.(C)
35 Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”(D)
36 He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms,(E) he said to them, 37 “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.”(F)
Whoever Is Not Against Us Is for Us(G)
38 “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.”(H)
39 “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, 40 for whoever is not against us is for us.(I) 41 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.(J)
Causing to Stumble
42 “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble,(K) it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea.(L) 43 If your hand causes you to stumble,(M) cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell,(N) where the fire never goes out.(O) [44] [a] 45 And if your foot causes you to stumble,(P) cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell.(Q) [46] [b] 47 And if your eye causes you to stumble,(R) 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,(S) 48 where
49 Everyone will be salted(U) with fire.
50 “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again?(V) Have salt among yourselves,(W) and be at peace with each other.”(X)
The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
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