Being Great
Mark 9:30-41
Sometimes I wonder if Jesus regretted choosing the twelve apostles.
Photo by Tony Chen on Unsplash
They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.” But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him. Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.” John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us. For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward. - Mark 9:30-41
Jesus is trying to tell them something serious in private, and what do they do? They argue about who is going to be considered the greatest among them.
They are acting like children.
So he sits them down, takes a little child, and puts it among them.
Is this a lost child? An orphan? Did he take the child from its mother?
See, we all do it. We get distracted and wonder about things not central to the story or the moment.
Jesus used the child to explain that anyone who welcomes a child in his name welcomes the Father.
John heard this and was confused. He had tried to stop someone from using Jesus’s name to heal, and now he wonders if that was the right thing.
Jesus, true to form, tells him he was wrong to do that.
We come across people all the time who speak in Jesus’ name, and we tend to ignore them. Who do they think they are?
What if we are wrong? What if that is what we are supposed to do?
Who among us would dare to lay hands on a sick person and try to heal them?
We would not think of being Jesus, and yet, Jesus may have different expectations of how we should spread the good news of the Gospel.
What Jesus tries to tell them is that any act done in the name of Christ will be rewarded, whether it is given to someone because they bear Christ’s name, or given in his name.
We have this power to change the world through the light of Christ, and we often feel inadequate. How dare we try to be like Christ?, we ask.
What we should be asking is why we aren’t acting more like Him already.
More to come...