Mark 9:30-37 (NIV)
Over and over again in Mark’s Gospel, you see Jesus trying to get his disciples to see what the Kingdom of God is really going to be like. And as we saw last week, Jesus started to break it down to help his disciples see more clearly. But even that is a little confusing. New Testament scholar Tom Wright points out that Jesus had been speaking in parables that asked the disciples to look for hidden meaning, and then when he starts speaking plainly about his death and the upside down nature of the kingdom, they end up trying to discover some hidden meaning.
In today’s passage, the disciples' argument about who would be the greatest shows us just how much imaginative gridlock they were experiencing. Jesus Just got done telling them that if you want to follow me you’ll have to take up a cross… you’ll have to lose your life to find it. And this kind of invitation flies directly in the face of what their culture and society, and indeed our culture and society thinks about success and honor.
For the rest of the journey to Jerusalem, Jesus is trying to get his disciples to understand that following him will not result in the kind of honor and power that they imagine. He starts by inviting them to become like dependent children, who in the ancient world had no status or social power to trade… they were simply dependent. This is not what they expect to hear from a future king. For them to hear this would be like us hearing a boxer say that his strategy would be to step into the ring without gloves and with no intention to fight, but confidence that he would win… and then inviting us to come along with him.
As you listen to this passage, try to hear the words afresh and allow the scene to come to life in your mind.
----------REFLECT----------
1. What image from this passage is most striking to you?
2. How does this passage challenge your desire for honor, social power, and position?
3. In what area of your life do you find it most difficult to be like a dependent child in relationship to the Creator?
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