The Gospel of Mark makes a pretty marked turn after Peter confesses that Jesus is the Christ (Mark 8:27-30). After that conversation Jesus begin to proactively & clearly teach the disciples that He is going to be rejected & killed & that He will rise from the dead (8:31; 9:9-13; 9:30-31). In each instance where Jesus brings up the suffering He is to endure we see a corresponding confusion on the part of the disciples (8:32-33; 9:10; 9:32). The disciples simply didn’t have a concept of a Messiah that suffers & dies. It wasn’t in their thinking. It didn’t fit their expectations. They were looking for a king – one who would take charge & free the Jews from the burden of Rome. They wanted change…and they wanted it right then. This wasn’t the Jesus they were expecting.
And stuck right in the middle of all this talk of rejection and suffering and death is this statement by Jesus: “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all” (9:35). In context Jesus is addressing the disciple’s argument over which one of them was the greatest. And in the same way He needed to clarify the Biblical Messiah, He clarified the Biblical model of greatness. Just as the Son of Man is a suffering Servant, those that come after Him should be servants. The measure of greatness in Jesus’ mind was not reflected by how high one can climb but by how low one can go. If you want to be first then stop jockeying for prime position & instead start leading others to the front. And lest the disciples get confused on exactly what He’s talking about Jesus brings a child into their midst to further illustrate His point – “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me” (9:37).
His point is clear: If you claim to follow Jesus your life should be marked by an ever increasing servant’s heart for all people – especially those who can do nothing to further your personal gain. To state it in the negative: If you are a person who is not marked by an ever increasing servitude for all people, including (& perhaps especially) the weak & defenseless then you are following the wrong Jesus.
Want a real life illustration? So just now….literally as I’m typing this two of my kids woke up, came downstairs & asked me to help them get breakfast. And here’s what’s so pathetic – my gut response was frustration that they were interrupting me. Don’t they know that I’m in the middle of explaining how true followers of Jesus serve others – including children?
I know what you’re thinking…..go ahead & nominate me for dad of the year and for the guy that “get’s it.” Clearly, Jesus still has lots of work to do in my heart. And obviously knowing is not the same as doing.
