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In calling people to change their ways, one may use a carrot or a stick – reward or punishment. In today’s Gospel (Mark 9:38-43; 45, 47-48) one might say that Jesus chooses the stick when he speaks of the fires of Gehenna, a place that was feared and reviled by the residents of Jerusalem for centuries. It was viewed as a cursed place, the closest thing to hell one might imagine. It was in Gehenna where ancient peoples practiced the human sacrifice of children to appease pagan deities. To show their utter disdain for Gehenna and the evils that happened there, it eventually became a landfill where the populace of Jerusalem dumped their garbage which was then burned. The fires would burn constantly day and night as the smoke and horrible odors would waft over the countryside.
To end up in Gehenna was akin to one's worst nightmare. It was hell on earth. For Jesus, Gehenna is an aptly used metaphor to convince people to live in right relationship with God and with one another, or else suffer the eternal consequences of a life lived for oneself rather than for God and for others. By this point in Mark's gospel, Jesus is already traveling the lonesome road to Calvary.
He has told the apostles that he is going to Jerusalem to die for sin and to destroy the powers of hell forever and for everyone. It was Jesus’ desire that we all act in his name for God's glory, in the same way that Moses wished that all God's people would prophesy in the Spirit. Doing good in Jesus' name can help us store up treasure for ourselves in heaven. In the Second Reading (James 5:1-6), James tells his listeners that if they have lived on earth in luxury and pleasure while ignoring those who are suffering, that their sins against their fellow humans cry out to God for justice.
Gehenna is all around us in different guises. It exists in the forms of temptation that distract us from God and take our focus off the many gifts and blessings that God gives to those who trust in him. Gehenna was outside the city walls of Jerusalem and the protection that the walls offered. It was a feared place where both people and things were thrown away and left to burn and be destroyed. For us, the promise of eternal life can be found only within the walls of the Kingdom of Heaven. The more we cling to Christ and remain close at his side, and the more we demonstrate our love of God and neighbor, the less likely it is that we will be condemned to the fires of Gehenna. Rather, we shall rest in the arms of our loving God.
