Today, we will study about how Jesus prepares His disciples for the realities of life in His kingdom, and how He teaches them crucial lessons about what it truly means to follow Him.

In Mark 9:30-50, we see Jesus teaching His disciples how to live a life shaped by humility, purity, and a commitment to serve others. These qualities are the non-negotiable qualities of true discipleship.

Discipleship is not about power, prestige, or position. True discipleship is about becoming more like Christ with the following three key qualities:

1. My attitude toward the cross

In verses 30-32, Jesus again predicted His death and resurrection. But the disciples did not understand His words, instead they are preoccupied with arguing about who among them is the greatest (v. 34). This shows that they did not understand the heart of the gospel, which is self-sacrifice, humility, and service.

So Jesus placed a child in their midst and said, “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” (v. 37).

This powerful image of a child teaches us that greatness in the kingdom of God is not about status or recognition, but about humility and serving the least.

During that ancient time, children held the lowest status in their society. And Jesus was relating Himself to the children.

Let us ask ourselves today: “Is my interest in being a Christian mainly about blessings for me and my family? Am I a true disciple following Jesus? Or am I trying to avoid the cross?”

2. Fear of sin

In verses 38-41, John tells Jesus about someone outside their group is casting out demons in Jesus’ name. Jesus responded, “Do not stop him. No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me” (v. 39).

Here Jesus is emphasizing that the work of God cannot be limited to one group or one particular way. He wants His disciples to see the broader picture of God’s kingdom.

In verses 42-50, Jesus warned them of sin and its destructive power. If anyone cause one of His “little ones” (believers) to stumble they should expect severe consequences. He also taught that we’re to remove anything in our lives that causes us to sin—whether it’s a hand, a foot, or an eye.

We must not be arrogant or proud of our salvation. We may claim that we are saved, but we need to beware of falling into sin and hell fire.

A true disciple should reflect and repent instead of wasting time in criticizing and judging others.

3. Have salt in yourselves (Mark 9:50, Luke 14:34–35, Matthew 5:13)

We Christians and disciples of Jesus must be the salt of the earth. The life and identity of salt is in its saltiness. When salt loses its saltiness, it becomes useless, will be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

What does salt do?

1. Give taste
2. Preserve (prevent corruption and maintain life)
3. Heal and disinfect

Saltiness of the salt represents:

• Saint/Christian’s faith
• The Word of God in the saint/Christian

What needs to happen to salt in order to give taste and effect?

Salt needs to melt, this represents sacrifice.

What happens when salt loses its taste?

Salt losing its taste refers to a Christian life that is not followed by service and sacrifice, a selfish Christian life without the cross. This happens when a Christian losing grace, and cannot live a life of faith and Word to fulfil their duties as a believer. The world will trample over tasteless salt.

• Their own life becomes tasteless, and there’s no more joy or worth and living itself becomes hard work.

In Matthew, Jesus speaks of the 8 Beatitudes right before speaking about being the salt of the earth. Hence, losing the salty taste is losing the 8 traits of saints and living a fruitless life, only claiming with their lips to be believers. Satan and this world will not leave them alone.

Conclusion

During that time, salt farming technology was not very developed. Salt was an expensive commodity. Some Roman soldiers and labour workers were paid with salt instead of money.

The word “salt” is derived from the Latin word “salarium,” which means salary. Only the upper class had farmed salt from the Mediterranean Sea, whilst the lower class used salt from the Dead Sea. Often, they would pick up rocks from the bottom of the Dead Sea with salt buildup and boil it to get the saltiness out of it. After that process, the rock would lose the salty taste and be thrown away.

The salinity of seawater is about 3.5%. That is enough to make the water taste very salty. The Christian population in this world is about 30%. But the world is covered with stronger taste of sin than the taste of Christ’s love and righteousness. The spiritual salt is not giving its saltiness in this world. Let us be able to be restored and give that salty taste to the world.

How do we restore the salty taste?

Like that rock, we need to be immersed into salty water again. We need to bathe in His love and grace again. Jesus’ love and righteousness are the salt that we need to have in us. Then He said “be at peace with one another.” (Mark 9:50)

How to be a true disciple is something that we know and have heard many times. But these are not so easy to carry out and fulfill. The important question to ask ourselves is “Do I have the cross in my life?” May the grace of Jesus’ cross continue to bless us day by day; and through the life of bearing the cross, may we find true joy, worth, and reason for our existence and life!

AMEN.