Tuesdays with Mark (9:30-37)

“They [the disciples and Jesus] went on from there and passed through Galilee. He [Jesus] did not want anyone to know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, ‘The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.’” (9: 30-31)
Jesus is now back home in Galilee; this is where he spent most of his time. This is now a private moment with his disciples. This is retreat time. He had already told them (see 8: 34f) that he is going to Jerusalem to suffer, be persecuted, and be killed, and he can tell that they don’t really understand, much less like, what he has said to them. They are clueless. They are resistant. They think that Jesus has “gone off his rocker.”
Jesus says that he is to be betrayed into human hands, that he is to die by human hands—now, what does that mean? It means, most obviously, that certain people will indeed kill him, but it also means so much more. It means that we participated in his death; it means that he died for us; it means that we were there when they crucified our Lord; it means that his blood is on our hands; it means that we cannot blame the Romans or the Jews or anyone for his death; it means that we must look in the mirror, into our souls, into our motives, into our words, into our actions, and see and know and accept that he died for us, that we need his blood to wash away our sins, that we need his mercy, that we need him to rescue us.
The scripture next says, “But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.” Who could blame them? Jesus has already told them some very challenging things, things that they didn’t want to hear, things that didn’t make any sense to them, and every time they ask him to clarify, every time they challenge him, he “ups the ante,” he makes his demands even higher, he compels them to give up even more. So, who can blame them? They don’t want to ask any more questions because they don’t want to hear what he has to say.
While Jesus was saying that he must die they drifted behind him and began to argue who is the greatest among them, who is next going to lead, who is the most powerful. What an odd moment. What a mismatch. What cross (no pun intended) purposes. Jesus is taking about humility and sacrifice and they are fighting over power and prestige. Funny how some things never really change. Funny how Jesus is still asking for us to hear him, understand him, follow him, and we are still fighting over who is in charge, in control, the most powerful or popular.
When Jesus asked them what they were taking about behind his back “they were silent.” Well, at least they had the good sense to be embarrassed. They had been caught. They knew that they were off; that they had missed his message.
In order to illustrate his point about who is the “greatest,” Jesus took a child and put his arms around him or her and told them that whoever welcomes one such child welcomes him. The disciples were astounded, and appalled. Children didn’t count for much in those days. Children were considered among the least, the lowest. And now Jesus is identifying with one of them. When we humble ourselves, when we let go of ego-games, power-plays, when we come alongside the least, the lowest, the lost, there and then, says Jesus, we will know greatness. This is more bad news for the disciples. This news just turns their world upside down. And then Jesus said to them, “If you want to be one of my disciples, then you must see the world as I do and treat others as I do and sacrifice as I do and love like I do.” It is no wonder that Jesus got himself into so much trouble.