They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.” But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.
They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.
Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”
He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, “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.”
This text is another one of those places where Jesus is instructing his disciples.
This takes us back to Mark 8 when Peter declared he believed Jesus was the Messiah. Since then, they have had both a mountaintop experience and, come face to face with the daily challenges of following him and meeting a need that they are unable to do.
I think part of what Mark is doing in these scenes is teaching us that we cannot work out all the answers. God is in charge. And my goal, then, is to follow Him, which is to say, to be in His presence - all the time.
As the disciples, these followers of Jesus are on the road, a couple of things are happening:
- they are confused about what Jesus is saying and doing
- they are discussing / arguing about which of them will have power
They are not very different from us. Our inner life: our thoughts, motivations, and, unspoken judgments of others, sometimes leaks out, and that's not pretty.
When Jesus confronts them about their internal motives, they kept quiet - but Jesus knew they were arguing about who would be the greatest in the kingdom.
And Jesus turns their thinking upside down, or better, right-side up.
- In God's kingdom, "anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”
- In God's Kingdom, the little ones (not just in age, but in status in society, are welcomed.
These are signs of the kingdom of God breaking in.
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