Mark 9:43

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.

Jesus and his disciples escaped the crowds by going to a small fishing village called Capernaum, which sits on the edge of the Sea of Galilee. There, Jesus is giving some private lessons to his twelve disciples. Vv. 33-50 of chapter 9 change subject a number of times, leading one to believe that the writer of Mark is giving us just the highlights of the teaching. Vv. 43,45 and 47 follow the same teaching: ‘if x causes you to stumble, get rid of it. It is better to enter heaven impaired in some way than be thrown into hell.’

As usual in the interpretation of verses there is a range of extremes that interpreters see in verses. On the less extreme end, these verses could be interpreted as talking about the church, and that it is necessary to get rid of a member if they are causing other members to stumble. On the other extreme end, Jesus is telling everyone to chop their hands off and get rid of their eyes, as there is no one that has not used these parts of their body for sin. Verse 42 may offer us a clue for what the following verses are referring to:

Mark 9:42

“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.

This is such passionate language from Jesus. He is passionately against people that cause believers to stumble, and one can imagine that if it is better that someone dies on earth rather that cause a believer to stumble, whatever is in store for them on the day of judgement is not going to be joyful. With this in mind, v. 43 and it’s companion verses would then be talking about the church, or the body of Christ. Two major points remain:

1. Can we apply vv. 43,45,47 to the context of our physical body causing us to sin?

Until a really studied this verse, I thought that it could apply to our literal eyes. I have sinned through my eyes. I don’t know you, but I’m guessing you could attest to the same issues, and so we should all have an ‘eye going away’ party. But notice that the verses say ‘Our x causes us to stumble.’ My eye doesn’t cause me to stumble. My sinful heart wants to sin, and I use my eyes to stumble. Blaming my eye or hand or foot for something I did wrong would not even stand up in an earthly court room, and there is no reason why an infinitely wise God is going to judge with lower standards. Cutting off a body part is not going to stop our sinful hearts. We stumble from the sinful heart; to only way to get rid of that is using God to transform our hearts.

2. Are we the body parts that should be cut off?

Although we have concluded that we shouldn’t cut off our physical body parts because that’s not going to stop us from sinning, what should we do with the body parts (people) in the church who are causing others to stumble. It’s not our place to kill people that are causing others to sin; the role of judgement is God and God’s alone, but it certainly is our place to approach that person in love and help them see what they’re doing is wrong. But what if I am the body part that is causing others to sin? That is the biggest question, and from the passion that God talks about this issue, it is a question that we should all be asking ourselves daily. Are we causing others to stumble? A really quick and easy solution to this problem is to know whether our actions are loving to other people. If you’re loving everyone around you to the standard that God calls us to, you can’t be causing them to sin. They may sin, but you can’t, and shouldn’t take the blame. You can rest easy knowing you have done all that is humanly possible. Of course, this is far easier said and done, but from this verse we can see that God holds a very high standard for us in our interactions with people around us. We are only to love others, and only cause them to see God’s goodness and glory, never stumble.

ASK YOURSELF: How are you causing others to stumble? What can you do within your power to stop them from stumbling and to instead see God’s glory through your actions?