Revealing A Bit More
This week’s text is Mark 9:30-37. This contains two short passages that see Jesus revealing a bit more to the typically noncomprehending Duh-ciples, and then teaching a typically simple, yet important lesson. The Gospel of Mark comes off as a bit harsh toward the Disciples. One of the main themes of this Gospel is that Jesus is not understood as who He really is until after the Resurrection. The other main theme is Jesus as suffering servant.
This perspective is not unwarranted. After all the only reason we study Scripture is because of our belief in the Resurrection. The bible does not explain the resurrection, it is faith in the Resurrection that makes the Bible important. The Good News is that He has risen, He has risen indeed! The Bible is the thing into which the Good News has been placed. When we consider this reality we can sympathize a bit more with the disciples. We have the benefit of knowing how the story ends, the disciples did not have this benefit. So, it is necessarily the case that as Jesus reveals more of who He is and what He is going to endure, the immediate followers of Jesus would likely not understand these cryptic references. What is important for us is that we understand who Jesus is and what He endured for our salvation.
A Simple, Yet Powerful Message
The second part of this week’s text sees Jesus teaching the disciples a lesson in service. They are going about arguing over “who is the greatest”. We should give the disciples a break about this as well. How many of us effectively do the same thing in what we say and do. Jesus then sits them down and lays out the truth. If you want to be first, then become a servant. That is sacrifice yourself, at least your ego, and do for others. This is the genesis of the notion of servant leadership. Then Jesus powerfully lifts up a child, and proclaims that if you welcome a child in His name then you welcome not just Jesus, but the one who sent Him, the Father. The uplifting of a child is perfect, for they are the most in need of care in our world, by virtue of the fact that they cannot care for themselves.
One of the notable things about Jesus is that He knows how to communicate His point simply and powerfully. Pretty sure He had a mug at home that said, “Best Preacher Ever”. The point for us is that this is a concrete teaching that we may use as a guide for how we try to live in response to God’s gift of salvation through our faith in His Son. We came to this text in belief, we glean from it how we should obey.
Praise Be to God
