³⁴^*But they would not answer him, because on the road they had been arguing among themselves about who was the greatest. ³⁵^*Jesus sat down, called the twelve disciples, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must place himself last of all and be the servant of all.” ³⁶Then he took a child and made him stand in front of them. He put his arms round him and said to them, ³⁷^*“Whoever welcomes in my name one of these children, welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me, welcomes not only me but also the one who sent me.”

Whoever Is Not against Us Is for Us

³⁸John said to him, “Teacher, we saw a man who was driving out demons in your name, and we told him to stop, because he doesn’t belong to our group.”

³⁹“Do not try to stop him,” Jesus told them, “because no one who performs a miracle in my name will be able soon afterwards to say evil things about me. ⁴⁰^*For whoever is not against us is for us. ⁴¹^*I assure you that anyone who gives you a drink of water because you belong to me will certainly receive his reward.

Temptations to Sin

⁴²“If anyone should cause one of these little ones to lose his faith in me, it would be better for that person to have a large millstone tied round his neck and be thrown into the sea. ⁴³^*So if your hand makes you lose your faith, cut it off! It is better for you to enter life without a hand than to keep both hands and go off to hell, to the fire that never goes out.^o ⁴⁵And if your foot makes you lose your faith, cut it off! It is better for you to enter life without a foot than to keep both feet and be thrown into hell.^p ⁴⁷^*And if your eye makes you lose your faith, take it out! It is better for you to enter the Kingdom of God with only one eye than to keep both eyes and be thrown into hell. ⁴⁸^*There ‘the worms that eat them never die, and the fire that burns them is never put out.’

⁴⁹“Everyone will be purified by fire as a sacrifice is purified by salt.

⁵⁰^*“Salt is good; but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again?

“Have the salt of friendship among yourselves, and live in peace with one another.”

Read in Logos

Mark 9:35: And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”

Footnotes

oSome manuscripts add verse 44: There ‘the worms that eat them never die, and the fire that burns them is never put out’ (see verse 9:48).
pSome manuscripts add verse 46: There ‘the worms that eat them never die, and the fire that burns them is never put out’ (see verse 9:48).

Cross references

*9.34: Lk 22:24
*9.35: Mt 20:26, 27; 23:11; Mk 10:43, 44; Lk 22:26
*9.37: Mt 10:40; Lk 10:16; Jn 13:20
*9.40: Mt 12:30; Lk 11:23
*9.41: Mt 10:42
*9.43: Mt 5:30
*9.47: Mt 5:29
*9.48: Is 66:24
*9.50: Mt 5:13; Lk 14:34, 35