The disciples self-centered thoughts continued to be barriers to Jesus’ message that He was a Messiah who must surrender his life so that their/our lives will be saved. As close followers of Jesus and witness to his abilities to heal, they were taken in by their own deluded sense of self- importance which began to strain the lines of communication and their relationship with Jesus. Mark 9:30-37.
Their inability to help the child was inevitable as they were more interested in getting attention and impressing the crowd than channeling the grace of God through them in faith. As such they were not serving as instruments of God’s healing power and peace as they childishly competed with one another to get Jesus’ attention.
In referencing the child, Jesus reminds us that we have to welcome those “non-persons” who occupy the lowest rung of society’s ladder: "whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me."
Once again Jesus is challenging us to reverse long-standing, ingrained, habits
and set aside our desires to win fame and glory and tells the disciples “Whoever wants to be first must be last and become a
servant to all.” Though this isn’t as sharp a rebuke as the one he offered
Peter last week, it nevertheless most likely stung. Because this is definitely
not what they or we had been taught. Greatness, we assume, implies power,
accomplishment, fame, wealth, and all the other things that allow us to make
things go our way. And further to his point home, Jesus scoops up a young child,
considered among the lowest in the social strata of that time, into his arms
and tells the puzzled disciples. whoever welcomes a child like this welcomes
him.
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