Jesus is at it again. He keeps talking about his rejection, suffering and death. Now the disciples are worried about which one of them is the greatest!
It sounds like they are positioning themselves for power when Jesus is gone. But maybe they only want to receive special praise from Jesus if, indeed, Jesus' time is almost gone. Or maybe, when they heard Jesus rebuke Peter in last weeks lesson by telling him, "Get behind me Satan" they saw their opportunity to take Peter's pre-eminent place among the followers.
We can't really know for sure what they were thinking, but they are certainly caught red-faced when Jesus asked them. No one would own up to the conversation that had engrossed them all. Kind of like when we were kids and no one wanted to admit to Dad their guilt over some misdeed.
Jesus knew anyway. Jesus not only knew what they had been talking about, he also knew how little they understood about God's plan for the salvation of God's beloved people. Jesus knew they could not and did not understand how his own death could be a good thing - for the disciples or for the people.
And they hadn't even confronted the cross yet. In the gospel of Mark, Jesus only speaks of his death, not his manner of death. The cross is the final horrific, shameful detail in this ghastly sequence of death.
Jesus knew they didn't know, yet he kept teaching, loving, walking with them because they would need the memories of these last weeks together when the time came.
And, BTW, it is a child. Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all. Welcome a child and you welcome me, Jesus teaches them.
They don't understand that either. We don't either most of the time.
Sunday we are looking at Mark 9.30-37, the second passion prediction.
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