Then they came to Capernaum. After Jesus was inside the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. After he sat down, he called the twelve and said to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him 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

On their way to Capernaum, Jesus must have walked by Himself. It seems the 12 disciples didn’t think He was paying attention to them, and so they used the opportunity to engage in a lively debate. Once they arrived, Jesus said, “Hey fellas, what exactly were you talking about the whole trip here?” (I’m pretty sure they realized He knew exactly what they’d been talking about, because after all, whenever Jesus asked them a question, it was always to get them to think about something He already knew. )

Their conversation had been about which among them should be voted Messiah’s M.V.D—“Most Valuable Disciple”! He wouldn’t take their silence as an answer, and I’ve no doubt their faces turned quite red as they mumbled the truth. (I wonder if they were secretly hoping that since they’d just embarrassed themselves by admitting to the One and Only Son of the Most High God that they’d been arguing about who deserved top slot, that at least Jesus would give them a hint as to who was currently in the running for top 3!)  However their Rabbi’s response wasn’t to declare the winner in order to end their pride-fueled debate.  Rather, He turned the focus of their misguided expectations from being “greatest” to being “least”.

When I read this familiar passage of scripture today, the Holy Spirit made sure I connected the dots from Jesus saying, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be last of all and servant of all” with what He did next. “He took a little child…” I began to ponder what role children played in Judean culture in those days, feeling it surely was different than now. At least in America, we are long past the days when adults said, “Children are to be seen and not heard.”

I discovered that my hunch was right when I read David E. Garland’s comments in my Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary. He wrote:

“No romanticized notion of children existed in the first century. Children had no power, status, or rights. They were not considered full persons and were regarded as somewhat akin to property. They were dependent, vulnerable, unlearned, and entirely subject to the authority of the father. The rabbis classified children with the deaf, the dumb, the weak-minded, and slaves.” 

Wow! Being a child back then certainly wasn’t all it’s cracked up to be these days! And yet it was one of those lowly creatures that Jesus had come so He could put His arms around him while He told his disciples that if they really wanted to be great in His eyes, they were to be servants of all! Certainly He could have looked around the crowd and picked out a woman (who was not nearly as esteemed as a man), a tax-collector (who would have been despised by all the Jews), a lame man (who was dependent on charity from anyone who would look at him), or any number of examples, including one of His disciples! But He didn’t. He called someone not even yet considered to be a full person—He called a child. 

I believe the disciples connected the dots that day. They realized there wouldn’t ever be someone that they could correctly consider themselves to be greater than! And thus, there would never be any person or any group of people that they should not be ready to serve. 

(Right now I’m laughing because I just had this fun picture in my mind of Jesus’ disciples stepping over one another as they scrambled to be the first to minister to that child. Can’t you just see one of them loudly declaring, “You know, Jesus, I’ve been thinking about starting a children’s ministry!” 😊)

Jesus, You said that You did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give Your life as a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45) I am no better than You. Your life was that of a servant. Help me Lord, to be willing to follow Your footsteps, in those footsteps. Teach me, Holy Spirit, to have a servant’s heart, especially to that person or that group of humans that I would rather steer clear of. Teach me to be humble, to let “least” be my aim. And may that be what You refer to when one day You tell me, “Well done!”