Markus 9:50

9:50 Salt ¹  is good, but if it loses its saltiness, ²  how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”

Markus 12:7

12:7 But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and the inheritance will be ours!’

Markus 14:36

14:36 He said, “Abba, ³  Father, all things are possible for you. Take this cup ⁴  away from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

Markus 15:32

15:32 Let the Christ, ⁵  the king of Israel, come down from the cross now, that we may see and believe!” Those who were crucified with him also spoke abusively to him. ⁶ 

[9:50]  ¹ sn Salt was used as seasoning or fertilizer (BDAG 41 s.v. ἅλας a), or as a preservative. If salt ceased to be useful, it was thrown away. With this illustration Jesus warned about a disciple who ceased to follow him.

[9:50]  ² sn The difficulty of this saying is understanding how salt could lose its saltiness since its chemical properties cannot change. It is thus often assumed that Jesus was referring to chemically impure salt, perhaps a natural salt which, when exposed to the elements, had all the genuine salt leached out, leaving only the sediment or impurities behind. Others have suggested the background of the saying is the use of salt blocks by Arab bakers to line the floor of their ovens: Under the intense heat these blocks would eventually crystallize and undergo a change in chemical composition, finally being thrown out as unserviceable. A saying in the Talmud (b. Bekhorot 8b) attributed to R. Joshua ben Chananja (ca. a.d. 90), when asked the question “When salt loses its flavor, how can it be made salty again?” is said to have replied, “By salting it with the afterbirth of a mule.” He was then asked, “Then does the mule (being sterile) bear young?” to which he replied: “Can salt lose its flavor?” The point appears to be both are impossible. The saying, while admittedly late, suggests that culturally the loss of flavor by salt was regarded as an impossibility. Genuine salt can never lose its flavor. In this case the saying by Jesus here may be similar to Matt 19:24, where it is likewise impossible for the camel to go through the eye of a sewing needle.

[14:36]  ³ tn The word means “Father” in Aramaic.

[14:36]  ⁴ sn This cup alludes to the wrath of God that Jesus would experience (in the form of suffering and death) for us. See Ps 11:6; 75:8-9; Isa 51:17, 19, 22 for this figure.

[15:32]  ⁵ tn Or “the Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[15:32]  sn See the note on Christ in 8:29.

[15:32]  ⁶ sn Mark’s wording suggests that both of the criminals spoke abusively to him. If so, one of them quickly changed his attitude toward Jesus (see Luke 23:40-43).