Mark 9:33-37--Who Is the Greatest?

Mark 9:33-37
English Standard Version
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Who Is the Greatest?
33 And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” 34 But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. 35 And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” 36 And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”

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Jesus had just revealed to His disciples that He was going to be arrested, tried, convicted, sentenced to death on a cross, would die, be buried, and would rise again.  He also told them that He would not be with them much longer (He was going back to heaven).  This is one of the most important things He wanted to tell them, and it was the right time to do so in order that they would not be taken by surprise when all these things started happening.  They were all confused by this, but no one wanted to ask Him about it.  However, they took the opportunity to argue and posture about who would be the greatest in the coming kingdom.  They knew enough to know Jesus would sit on the throne as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, but who would sit at His right hand and His left hand?  The mother of James and John (the Sons of Zebedee) was arguing that her boys should be privileged with this honor, and this upset all the other disciples who thought they should receive that honor.

We pick up there after their argument had ended.  They were all so mad at each other that none of them wanted to talk to each other.  Jesus asked them what they had been "discussing" along the way (surely, He knew and had heard them---probably everyone heard them, but this was a question to make them confess).  They would not answer them, but since He already knew the answer, He took the opportunity to sit them down and teach them.

​“If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”  This was not like their thinking at all--their thinking was selfish, but Jesus said it is the one who is selfless that will be great in the kingdom of God.  Want to be entrusted with great things in God's kingdom?  You must be like the lowest slave in the household who has no rights and serves everyone.  Jesus will even demonstrate this again at the Last Supper because it was one of the most important lessons that He wanted the apostles to learn.

In this moment, Jesus took a child from the crowd and used the child as a teaching aid.  Children were not well-liked in that culture.  Sure, their parents loved them, but most other people thought children shouldn't be seen or heard from until they were much, much older.  Jesus tells the disciples (and probably the crowd) that anyone who receives a little child in Jesus' name welcomes Him.  The point here was that the child had nothing to offer them, and it wasn't even their own child that they should love because it was their own flesh and blood.  No, Jesus said we should love that child simply because He loves that child, and we should love children "in Jesus' name" (in the way that He loves them).  Jesus told His disciples in other places not to forbid the little children to come unto Him, for such is the kingdom of heaven, and that unless they became like a little child (dependent on the Father to fulfill their every need), they could not enter the kingdom of heaven.  Children were very important to Jesus, though they were seen a annoyance many times by His disciples.