Mark 9:38The disciples apparently had not told the Lord about this incident before. Surely, they thought, it was natural to take themselves as the sole proprietors of the truth they had been receiving from Christ. We have this tendency, to think that we are unique among God’s ministers. Elijah had this same malady, thinking he…

Mark 9:37Does this mean that being nice to a child is the same as salvation? No. Remember the context. He is talking to them about their discussion of greatness. He is teaching them that ministering to the least was ministering to the greatest. Why? Because service to the least was service to him and the…

Mark 9:36We can easily miss the significance of this lesson. What exactly is Jesus teaching here? Although the consideration of children in society seems common today, this has not always been the case. Indeed, this value is deteriorating even now. As followers of Christ, the nurture of the next generation is to be very important…

Mark 9:35Jesus immediately decides it is time for some teaching. He was always teaching. He called all of the twelve. It may be that not all of them were involved in the dispute. But Jesus knew that all of them would need to hear this lesson.Interestingly, Jesus does not condemn the desire to be first…

Mark 9:34Now how do you hide something from God? Of course you  don’t, so any attempt to do so is rather comical. I mean how did they go about this holding of their peace? My guess is Jesus got one of those blame game glance parties we are so good at. Maybe he looked at…

Mark 9:33Ah, so rather than ask Jesus more about the resurrection, they devolved into their favorite subject. Jesus, knowing that they didn’t ask him about what he has said for fear of embarrassment, embarrassed them now by asking about their new subject. They had thought it was safely hidden from him, but of course it…

Mark 9:32Alas, they still did not understand. Though we can lament this lack, the worse circumstance appears next. They would not ask Christ to help them understand. They were embarrassed of their ignorance, and were afraid of asking. What a sad condition! Here they were, seated before the repository of all truth, paralyzed by selfish…

Mark 9:31Notice how Jesus says that the son of man ‘is delivered’ into the hands of men. As Jesus makes plain elsewhere, this is all in God’s plan. Otherwise, it would never have happened. Jesus could not have been caught or killed by man if it had not been God’s will. Heavenly Father, we know…

Mark 9:30Jesus wanted some private time with his disciples. He wanted to prepare them for what was about to take place. Galilee was his home base, not just the place where he did much of his ministering.Why would Jesus spend so much time preparing his followers for his death if he knew they wouldn’t understand…

Mark 9:29And what exactly does that mean? Well, in Matthew we get a bit more. Jesus tells them there that the first cause of their failure was their own faithlessness. Then, as here, we see the part about prayer and fasting.The fact is that we tend to jump to conclusions. For example, we may have…