Bible Studies

TIME OUT TO TEACH

by Luella Campbell
07/24/15
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TIME OUT TO TEACH

They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were because He was teaching His disciples. He said to them, ‘The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill Him, and after three days He will rise.’ But they did not understand what He meant and were afraid to ask Him about it (Mark 9: 30-32).

Time was getting short for Jesus. He needed to get the message across to His disciples. He was going to die at the hands of the authorities but they needed to know that it was all planned. It was urgent that they understand so that it would not take them by surprise. However, death would not be the end for Him. It would be part of the process. Unlike any other person before Him, death would not hold Him in the grave. With all the earnestness He could muster, He assured His disciples that He would rise again.

But they were deaf to His words. Uncomprehending. It was not His words that they did not understand but the very thought that anyone would rise from the dead. This was such an important message that He took His disciples somewhere out of reach of the crowds so that He could have time out with them, alone. But they just didn’t get it!

They came to Capernaum. When He was in the house, He asked them, ‘What were you arguing about on the road?’ But they kept quiet because on the way they argued about who would be the greatest. Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, ‘Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and servant of all.’ He took a little child whom He placed among them. Taking the child in His arms, He said to them, ’Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.’ (Mark 9: 33-37).

Here are some loaded statements. It is glaringly obvious at this stage that the disciples were just ordinary men. They were still without the Spirit. They lacked understanding and the old nature was still very much at work in them. In spite of every effort Jesus made to get them to understand that He did not come to get rid of Rome and set up a renewed Davidic kingdom in Israel, that’s what they believed and that’s what coloured their thinking. Everything He taught them was filtered through this expectation.

Of course that meant that they were the favoured ones who would hold high office in this new regime, or so they thought. They continually squabbled over the same thing – who would hold the highest office under Jesus? Their thinking was worldly; they wanted to go up, not down. Underneath the surface of this band of “followers” a power struggle was going on, and Jesus was well aware of it. It was His passion to promote unity among them by teaching them to submit to one another, but they had other ideas. Not even His patient teaching and example would shift this pernicious ambition from their minds.

In this atmosphere of constant competition, Jesus made a shocking statement – shocking because it cut across everything they believed at that moment. From the lowest rungs of society He had called them. They were catapulted from being nobodies to being somebodies because they were the disciples of the most powerful and popular rabbi in all Israel. It must have gone to their heads, especially when He taught about God’s kingdom. Now He informed them that the most important people in this kingdom were those who served. That was something they did not want to hear.

To crown it all He called a small child to Him. If they didn’t understand His words, He would give them a visual aid they would not easily forget. Picking up the little one, He made another startling statement. “Do you see this child?” He asked them. “If you want to be really great in God’s kingdom, you will need to get down on his level and accept him. Yes, even become like him.”

What? Become like a child? What did He mean? What is the most glaring characteristic of a child? Humility? Not really. Trust? Perhaps. Spontaneity? Maybe. Dependence? Absolutely. Whatever other characteristics a child might have, every single child from birth is absolutely dependent on someone else for survival. Left to himself he will die.

Strangely enough, it is dependence that cancels out pride. Children are taught to become independent so that they can grow up and leave home. In the kingdom of God, the opposite is true. It takes a lifetime to learn to be utterly dependent on God. That’s true humility, and when you do that, you will be able to bend down and accept a child as your equal.

Jesus taught His disciples, on the eve of His death:

I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing (John 15:5).

If unity with His disciples was His goal, then dependence was the way to that goal. To be one with Him means to be utterly useless without Him.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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