Show Don't Tell: Mark 9:42-50

Instead of saying "Jesus warned about causing others to sin," feel the millstone drop. "If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around their neck." Picture the weight, the splash, the sinking. Better that than causing faith to stumble. Then the radical surgery: "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." Same with foot. Same with eye—gouge 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, where 'the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched.'" These aren't literal instructions but vivid urgency: whatever leads you to sin must be dealt with drastically. "Everyone will be salted with fire." Purification comes through burning. "Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other."