9:33,34
The disciples were like children in many ways, and Jesus sometimes seems to treat them as children. The same could no doubt be said about us as well at times. The disciples had been arguing about who was the greatest. They thought they were doing this privately, but Jesus knew what they were up to. We should note the implication that there was a degree of separation between Jesus and the disciples. They were not on the same level. There is an important balancing act to be had. On the one hand we Jesus does call us to be close to Him, and intimacy with God is a crucial benefit of the gospel. On the other hand, we must not let this degenerate into a wrong sort of familiarity. God is God, and we are created beings.
9:35
Sitting down was often the posture adopted by a rabbi when teaching, and Jesus here is going to teach His disciples, for their understanding is woefully inadequate. And note that the lack of understanding is not anything academic, but a lack of understanding of how God orders His kingdom! The world’s way of thinking is that we need to be top dog, we need to prove we are better than others, even to get one over on others. God’s kingdom is completely different from the world’s kingdom. If we want to be first in God’s kingdom, then we need to be last, and we need to be the servant of all. We should be careful how we interpret this, otherwise we just end up with another version of the world’s way of thinking. We need to stop thinking about who is the greatest, or how I can be the greatest. Instead our focus should be on serving God and serving others. This, after all, is what Jesus did!
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