Mk 9:41-50
[Jesus said to John,] 41“Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward. 42Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe [in me] to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. 43If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed than with two hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire. [44] 45And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life crippled than with two feet to be thrown into Gehenna. [46] 47And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. Better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna, 48where ‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’ 49Everyone will be salted with fire. 50Salt is good, but if salt becomes insipid, with what will you restore its flavor? Keep salt in yourselves and you will have peace with one another.”
Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink: Do not allow what you cannot do to stop you from doing what you can! You may not be able to establish an organization that feeds the hungry in Africa, but you can give a cup of water to a thirsty stranger. You may not stop another person from being foolish, but you can make yourself wise. You may not change the world, but you can change yourself. That is the real meaning of doable: what you are able to, do! Soon you will discover that what you first think is impossible can be possible.
Jesus does not succeed in winning the scribes and the Pharisees over, but he makes a difference in other persons he has touched. He does not come down from the cross, but from there he forgives his tormentors.
Focus on what you can do. The next step is easy. One priest I know always sleeps very soundly. After a day’s work, he would bang his door shut and shout, “Lord, I have done my job. I am going to sleep. Now do your job.”
Gehenna: Gehenna represents the Hebrew form of “valley of Hinnom” at the southern extremity of the hill of Zion over which the city of Jerusalem stands. In the Old Testament, it had an unholy reputation as the site of Tophet where human sacrifice was offered. The dead bodies of rebels against God lie there; their worms do not die, nor the fire quenched (Is 66:24). The New Testament describes Gehenna as a place of fire, where the wicked are punished.