If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all

 Then they departed from there and passed through Galilee, and He did not want anyone to know it.  For He taught His disciples and said to them, "The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him.  And after He is killed, He will rise the third day."  But they did not understand this saying, and were afraid to ask Him.

Then He came to Capernaum.  And when He was in the house He asked them, "What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road?"  But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest.  And he sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all."  Then He took a little child and set him in the midst of them.  And when He had taken him in His arms, He said to them, "Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me."

Now John answered Him, saying, "Teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us."  But Jesus said, "Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in My name can soon afterward speak evil of Me.  For he who is not against us is on our side.  For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ, assuredly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward."

- Mark 9:30-41

Yesterday we read that when Jesus came to the disciples (from the Mount of the Transfiguration), He saw a great multitude around them, and scribes disputing with them.  Immediately, when they saw Him, all the people were greatly amazed, and running to Him, greeted Him.  And He asked the scribes, "What are you discussing with them?"  Then one of the crowd answered and said, "Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit.  And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid.  So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not."  He answered him and said, "O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you?  How long shall I bear with you?  Bring him to Me."  Then they brought him to Him.  And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth.  So He asked his father, "How long has this been happening to him?"  And he said, "From childhood.  And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him.  But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us."  Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes."  Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!"  When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it:  "Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!"  Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him.  And he became as one dead, so that many said, "He is dead."  But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.  And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, "Why could we not cast it out?"  So He said to them, "This kind cane come out by nothing but prayer and fasting."

 Then they departed from there and passed through Galilee, and He did not want anyone to know it.  For He taught His disciples and said to them, "The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him.  And after He is killed, He will rise the third day."  But they did not understand this saying, and were afraid to ask Him.  This is the second time that Jesus predicts His death and Resurrection to the disciples.  (See this reading for the first.)  My study bible comments that this affirms to the disciples that He is going to His Passion freely, and not being taken against His will. 

Then He came to Capernaum.  And when He was in the house He asked them, "What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road?"  But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest.  And he sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all."  Then He took a little child and set him in the midst of them.  And when He had taken him in His arms, He said to them, "Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me."  We note again Jesus' tact.  Any discipline or correction among the disciples takes place in the house, behind closed doors.  The disciples are obviously embarrassed about their dispute and its nature, for they kept silent when He asked about it.  The question of who would be greatest, my study bible says, indicates a selfish interest in worldly power.   Jesus takes on this mantle of worldly power, and transforms it to the power that is present in Him and in His ministry.  This is the power of grace, the model for which the disciples must work for themselves.  It is a sense in which we serve something which is greater than ourselves and yet we are aware lives among us and within us.  Even the little child, carrying the potential of the kingdom within -- and Christ's presence through faith -- must be received as if receiving Christ, and moreover the Father who sent Him.  This kind of gracious power is the power of love, which must be at work among them.  To be great is to have the capacity to sacrifice for something much greater than merely selfish interest, even an awareness of the presence of God in our midst.

Now John answered Him, saying, "Teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us."  But Jesus said, "Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in My name can soon afterward speak evil of Me.  For he who is not against us is on our side.  For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ, assuredly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward."  My study bible comments that Theophylact sees John's comment as a regret, as his conscience is now pricked by Christ's correction of the disciples.  But St. Ambrose, to the contrary, sees John as expecting full obedience to accompany such blessings.  But in either case, the message of Christ is that those who act in good faith are not excluded, even if they aren't currently numbered among the disciples.  Theophylact writes, "See how divine grace is at work even in those who are not His disciples" (see also Numbers 11:24-30).   On using Christ's name without good faith, see Luke 11:23, Acts 19:13-16.  Let us make careful note of the persistent message here:  those who carry Christ with them, even a little child, are not only to be received by the disciples with great grace, but to do so conveys its own grace to the giver.

What is gracious behavior?  We don't hear much about it these days.  Either we seem to be told about a kind of self-righteous moralism done for conspicuous show, or a childish and selfish attitude of entitlement that leads to all kinds of excess -- and to rage when it is not fulfilled.  Gracious behavior is that which Jesus teaches to the disciples.  It entails a sense in which sacrifice is not something bad and not merely oppressive, but done for a purpose and for something greater, a presence which is within us and among us.  To be aware of God's love is to be aware of carrying something within us that calls us to a higher standard.  This is not a demand or excuse for people to walk all over us or to treat us badly.  Rather it is a call to the consciousness of what grace is and how it works; moreover we are to be aware of how God's love works in us and through us, and to respect that.  Faith carries with itself a power and a responsibility to this love and the grace that is at work in us and among us.  To participate in this kingdom is to seek an awareness of what that means and how its own rules -- in contrast to worldly power -- are at work in us and must, as well, be honored.  We have all heard of "win-win" situations or solutions to problems.  Well, this is Christ's version of "win-win" in which each is willing to sacrifice for the other in order to make room for grace and for the correctness of love.  To treat others with such "gentleness" is the root of what has come to be considered good manners.  Rather than seeing ourselves diminished by such an understanding that cuts to the root of simplistic selfish behavior, we are to understand that Christ's example of graciousness is what it truly means to be great.  To serve all is to be the greatest.  But let us pay close attention:  the impulse here is not to be a doormat for those who would trample us under; it is Christ who warned:  "Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces."  Perhaps swine and dogs are terms by which we may understand those who cannot see anything but competition and selfishness, who are so blind as to be incapable of recognizing true good, and will respond only with rage to that which teaches discipleship.  It is rather an awareness of the presence and work of this Kingdom, wherever it may be found, that Jesus counsels; and this awareness must convey a particular way to live and interact, a working of grace that we also strive to practice as part of discipleship.  The world sees "sacrifice" as a bad word.  But we can all understand the concept of "win-win."  If we know who Christ is, then we can also understand what it is to be the "first," as we share in His ministry.