Mark 9:30-37
30 They went on from there and passed along through
Galilee. And He did not wish to have anyone know it. 31 For He was [engaged for
the time being in] teaching His disciples. He said to them, The Son of Man is
being delivered into the hands of men, and they will put Him to death; and when
He has been killed, after three days He will rise [ from death]. 32 But they
did not comprehend what He was saying, and they were afraid to ask Him [what
this statement meant]. 33 And they arrived at Capernaum; and when [they were]
in the house, He asked them, What were you discussing and arguing about on the
road? 34 But they kept still, for on the road they had discussed and disputed with
one another as to who was the greatest. 35 And He sat down and called the
Twelve [apostles], and He said to them, If anyone desires to be first, he must
be last of all, and servant of all. 36 And He took a little child and put him
in the center of their group; and taking him in [His] arms, He said to
them ,
37 Whoever in My name and for My sake accepts and
receives and welcomes one such child also accepts and receives and welcomes Me;
and whoever so receives Me receives not only Me but Him Who sent Me.
Food for thought!
When they left there, they made their way through
Galilee, and Jesus did not wish anyone to know where he was. This passage marks
a mile-stone. Jesus had now left the north country where he was safe and was
taking the first step towards Jerusalem and to the Cross which awaited him
there. FOR ONCE JESUS DID NOT WANT THE CROWDS AROUND HIM. Strange, isn't it?
Jesus wanted some time away by himself! Why?
Well, the reason is stated as being, "For He was
teaching His disciples." As you know by now, Jesus had different message
for different people. He spoke differing messages to different audiences. He
had things to tell Pharisees, things to tell everybody, things to tell the
Twelve apostles. This time he was teaching just his apostles. What was he
teaching them?
"The Son of Man is being delivered into the hands of
men, and they will put Him to death; and when He has been killed, after three
days He will rise from death."
Jesus knew quite clearly that unless he could write his message on the hearts
of his chosen men, he had failed. Any teacher can leave behind him a series of
propositions, but Jesus knew that that was not enough. He had to leave behind
him a band of persons on whom these propositions were written. He had to make
sure, before he left this world in the body, that there were some who
understood, however dimly, what he had come to say.
Unfortunately, they did not understand, and could not
understand. The gospel says, "But they did not comprehend what He was
saying, and they were afraid to ask Him what this statement meant." They
could not understand because they were AFRAID TO ASK. Sometimes we are amazed
that they did not grasp what was so plainly spoken. The human mind has an
amazing faculty for rejecting what it does not wish to know. Are we so very
different? Many of us do accept the parts of the Christian message which we
like and which suit us, and refuse to understand the rest.
We often refuse to face the truth! We prefer ignorance
because we are afraid of the consequences. We deliberately "switch
off" our mind and think of what we want. The disciples switched off from
what Jesus was teaching them to what they wanted to hear: who's the greatest
among them?
Yet in their heart of hearts they knew they were wrong.
When he asked them what they had been arguing about they had nothing to say. It
was the silence of shame. They had no defence. It is strange how a thing takes
its proper place and acquires its true character when it is set in the eyes of
Jesus. So long as they thought that Jesus was not listening and that Jesus had
not seen, the argument about who should be greatest seemed fair enough, but
when that argument had to be stated in the presence of Jesus it was seen in all
its unworthiness.
If we took everything and set it in the sight of Jesus it
would make all the difference in the world. If of everything we did, we asked,
"Could I go on doing this if Jesus was watching me?"; if of
everything we said, we asked, "Could I go on talking like this if Jesus
was listening to me?" there would be many things which we would be saved
from doing and saying. And the fact of Christian belief is that there is no
"if" about it. All deeds are done, all words are spoken in his
presence. God keep us from the words and deeds which we would be ashamed that
he should hear and see.
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