Mark 9:33-50
“Notice what you notice.” Three short vignettes today from Mark, repeating two from Matthew and one repeated in Luke tomorrow. So for today, “Who is the greatest?” Matthew has the disciples coming to Jesus (location uncertain) and asking Him that question. Mark has them all in Capernaum in “the house”, having been discussing the item along the way. Luke simply has that “an argument arose among them”.
So, back to Mark. And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. And he sat down and called the twelve. (vv. 33-35a). So a number of disciples were involved in this discussion, not necessarily only the twelve. I wonder about their discussion. Were they discussing what it meant to be one of the select twelve? Or were they considering only the “big three” (Peter, James, and John) as the greatest since Jesus had now twice singled them out and taken them with Him separately? And were Peter, James, and John part of the conversation? Surely not!! It’s an interesting, intriguing exercise to read between the lines and write them out a conversation.
But more to the point… Do we at St. Andrew’s make these comparisons? Do we think back to St. John’s or wherever we’ve come from and wonder “who is the greatest”? I’m sure we feel blessed to be part of St. Andrew’s and the whole movement of the Holy Spirit that is ACNA, but as we look back, do we also look “down”? (I know that I’m guilty of that!) We consider ourselves “better off”, but are we also “better”? We need to be careful! Yes, we are thankful, but let’s leave it at that.
Slava Bohu!