Would you do it in the presence of Jesus!

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.