MARK 9:33-37 "Who is greatest / most important?"
R E LANGFORD JR
The chatroom and forum have closed once again. Here is the set of notes from
which I was prepared to write about MARK.
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Let us pray:
Almighty God, merciful Father, who creates and completes all things according
to your good and gracious pleasure, we ask you to recreate in us the beginning
of our calling to your work that we may begin anew; direct your works’
continuance, and bless its refinement and conclusion, that all our doings may
be preserved from sin, our lives sanctified, and our work of striving to unfold
the meaning of the good news in MARK may prove pleasing to you; we ask this
through our LORD Messiah Jesus, your son our Savior. Amen.
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This week we continue our bible study in MARK 9, “Who is greatest/ most important?” MARK 9:33-37 = 33 Jesus and his disciples came to a house in Capernaum. There he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” 34 But they kept quiet. On the way, they had argued about which one of them was the most important person.
35 Jesus sat down and called for the Twelve to come to him. Then he said, “If you want to be first, you must be the very last. You must be the servant of everyone.”
36 Jesus took a little child and had the child stand among them. Then he took the child in his arms. He said to them, 37 “Anyone who welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me. And anyone who welcomes me doesn’t welcome only me but also the One who sent me.” [NIRV]
Let us continue ad seriatim. That is, let us continue verse by verse as we have in
the past.
MARK 9:33= 33 Jesus and his disciples came to a
house in Capernaum. There he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the
road?”
They came to Capernaum. “They,” that is, Jesus, The Twelve, and any other
disciples not in that “picked” group. To Capernaum, the home turf of the ring
leaders, Pete, Jimmy, Jack, and Andy, the first called; now, by implication,
the new home turf of Jesus himself. “…a house…,” with overtones of being in
“the House of the Lord,” this may mean a rented place where Jesus was known to
dwell, or, as many commentators I’ve read assume, the home of Peter/ Simon (and
perhaps Andrew), where Jesus was welcome and known to stay. (N.B. MARK 1:29 = 29 Jesus and those with him left the synagogue. Right
away they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. [NIRV] )
Jesus asks them as they arrive, before they are hardly relaxed “at home,” “What
were you arguing about on the road?”
Really? Jesus was walking along with them and did not catch even the gist of
what they were arguing about? Awww, c’mon! He wasn’t deaf.
MARK 9:34 = 34 But they kept quiet. On the way,
they had argued about which one of them was the most important person. [NIRV]
So what’s the big deal? We’re well aware that questions of rank, position, and
status were as normal two millennia ago as they are today. They played an
important role in the life of Jewish people and groups at the time. So, they
were doing something totally ordinary and normal. Why keep quiet about what
they were doing?
Had they perhaps picked up on hints from Jesus, their Master, that he thought
of himself – contrary to the spirit of the times – as a servant? (N.B. MARK
8:34-35 = 34 Jesus called the crowd to him along with his disciples.
He said, “If anyone wants to come after me, he must say no to himself. He must
pick up his cross and follow me. 35 If he
wants to save his life, he will lose it. But if he loses his life for me and
for the good news, he will save it.” More on this in Chapter 10) That might be
the occasion for an embarrassed silence, as one commentary I’ve read has it. But
even the most direct reference to sacrificial servanthood doesn’t imply lack of
power or authority, which was the core of their conversation about who was the
greatest. Or, who was most important.
Had they perhaps picked up on hints from Jesus, their Master, that he was about
to excoriate them for fussing about something so conventional, so totally
commonplace? Has he not been pointing time and again at God in order to explain
what he himself is doing? So? Is that kind of behavior from their teacher
commensurate with what they know of him, according to MARK? Do we agree that
this suggestion they’re about to be “chewed out” does not fit?
OTOH, are they not observant Jews, people under the covenant? Do they not know
the Shema? “4 Israel, listen to me. The Lord is our God. The Lord is the one
and only God. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Love him with
all your strength.” [DEUTERONOMY 6:4-5 NIRV] Many Mohammadans will chant
repetitively Allahu akbar, meaning God/Allah is greatest/ is greater, by itself
so obviously true it seems totally comparable to what Moses taught. Do they not
know that God tolerates no rivals? “2 “I am the Lord your God. I brought you out of Egypt.
That is the land where you were slaves. 3 “Do not put any other gods
in place of me. 4 “Do not make statues of gods that look like
anything in the sky or on the earth or in the waters. 5 Do not bow down
to them or worship them. I, the Lord your God,
am a jealous God. I punish the children for the sin of their parents. I punish
the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of those who hate me. 6 But for all time to come I show love to all those who
love me and keep my commandments.” [EXODUS 20:2-6 NIRV] Of course they knew
this. Indeed, many Christians teach their children a thanksgiving to say at
table: “God is great. God is good. Now we thank him for this food, etc.,” precisely
because of this unrivaled magnificence, or brilliant greatness, of the LORD. Were
the disciples silent because, although they knew this fact by heart, they had
nevertheless been discussing who (among them) was most important, leaving Jesus
and God out of the conversation? That might likewise be thought by some to be
an occasion for an embarrassed silence. Perhaps more reasonable, but far, far
too complicated, IMO, for MARK.
My take on this is far simpler. They knew full well Jesus knew what they had
been discussing; they knew he was not deaf. They regarded this posing of a
“hypothetical” . . . tell me what you’ve been arguing about on the road . . .
as a teacher’s ploy. We’re all familiar with a rhetorical inquiry as a “set up”
for some teaching. They were respectfully quiet, expecting some teaching,
perhaps some now insight, from Jesus. Sure enough, consider what follows! Watch
what comes next in Mark’s good news tale!
Notice that now, privately, in the house, Jesus sits down so
that he may teach them. MARK 9:35
= 35 Jesus sat down and called for the
Twelve to come to him. Then he said, “If you want to be first, you must be the
very last. You must be the servant of everyone.” “…sat down…,” as in 4:1, sitting
down was the usual position chosen by Jewish teachers of that era. Sitting down
is still the preferred position for teachers in Christ’s church. Important
teaching among RCCs comes to them ex
cathedra, literally: “from the chair,” of the chief teacher (bishop). Even
in today’s business world, the important statements/ teachings come from the
“chairman.” I can remember a few times Lutheran presidents/ bishops asked
pastors to read all the worshippers a doctrinal teaching letter from the chief
teacher in the denomination. So I had one of the big chairs put in front to sit
in before the congregation while the parishioners stood to hear me read.
The teaching here is some really intense stuff! I take it that here Jesus is
pointing explicitly at God in order to help The Twelve comprehend two things.
#1 The simple fact of the matter is to become important you must be servant. To
be most important or greatest of all, you must be servant to everyone. #2 Only
God can manage to do this. God is the only greatest one there can be.
So, IMO, MARK again “double taps” the fact that Jesus explains what he is up to
by pointing to what God in fact does. God puts what is for the good of his
created image bearers ahead of his own personal preference of what ought to
happen. A quick check of the entire Tanakh shows the truth of this perception;
time and again God puts off or delays what his personal greatness or integrity
demands in order to rescue his creation from its/ our sinful folly. Do you
begin to get a hint, only from what you know of MARK, that Jesus is God in the
flesh doing God sort of stuff?
MARK 9:36 = 36 Jesus took a
little child and had the child stand among them. Then he took the child in his
arms. He said to them, Whoaaaa, which
little child? Whose little child? Where did this youngster come from? How old a
child, anyway? The Greek here is the technical term: PAIDON, meaning someone
able to walk, but totally dependent upon his parents or elders for what is
needed to live. It is a neuter noun, much like maedchen for little girl in
German is neuter.
This is probably some child, part of the extended family of Simon and Andrew.
Mark the Evangelist tells us all we need to know about the youngster by the
Greek word he uses to refer to it. Had the little one staggered into the circle
of adult males gathered around Jesus? Again, we know what we need to know about
the child. Jesus gathers the child into his embrace, and says a rough tough
teaching into the disciples’ ears and ours.
MARK 9:37 = 37 “Anyone who
welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me. And anyone who
welcomes me doesn’t welcome only me but also the One who sent me.” Wow!
Pointing at God again, and to explain not only what he’s doing, but why he’s
doing it. Jesus is a superb teacher. To welcome someone who is barely able to
walk, but is totally dependent on others, and to welcome such a person in the
name of Jesus. . . , a person who does that welcomes God who sent Jesus into
the world, into the flesh, into our lives. Does that give you any hint as to
what you ought to be up to as a disciple of your Master?
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Our study for this week ends here. Be sure to read again Chapter 9 of MARK in
preparation for next Friday, 9 NOV ’12 @ 1:30 P.M.
Let us pray: Blessed LORD Messiah Jesus, at this hour you hung upon the cross,
stretching out your arms to embrace the world you created with the Father and
the Holy Spirit. Grant that all people of the earth may regard your death, and
yet look to you as more than a teacher and master for their rescue from all
that wickedness, evil, sickness, and trouble that our sin has brought upon us;
for your mercy’s sake we pray. Amen.
I may or may not be able to post more summaries of my planning here. This second closure of the forum has caught me by surprise. I'd become lax in copying what actually was written into the records in the chatroo. I extend my apology to any who are following what I've tried to remember.
The Rev'd R E LANGFORD JR, FAPC, ELCA pastor ! retired !
39.58°N by 75.98°W
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