The Gospel of Mark, and we have made it all the way to Mark chapter 9. And we get to this section and it gets kind of interesting. Now, as most of you know, by I, I mean my wife, but we homeschool our kids. And so we're constantly teaching them and trying to help them learn and understand. I know we've got several who've been teachers in here, others who've homeschooled, and maybe if you've never done either of those, you've still probably had an opportunity to interact with someone and to try and teach them something. Anybody never had an opportunity to teach someone something? I mean, even my kids get opportunities to teach something. Now, here's my real question. Have you ever tried to teach someone something and they just don't get it? I'm gonna take that as a yes. What response do you have? What attitude do you have? Now, I don't want the Sunday school answer. Think about it. You don't even have to answer out loud, but think about it. What thoughts and actions and attitudes come to your mind when you're trying to teach someone something? and they just don't get it. They don't listen, they don't understand. Yeah, like, come on! Why? Yeah, impatience. Frustration. Do what? Need to break out the holy stick? We have our reactions, right? We have our ways of doing things. In this section, we're gonna be taking a look at, really the question is, what does it take to be great? And that's the title that I have, that's the main question of this passage. But as we get into it, I want you to notice that it's really focused around this idea of Jesus teaching. And he's going to be teaching his disciples. And I've kind of broken it down into four different things that he's going to be teaching them along the way. And yet, they don't get it. They're just not really going to understand. And I think as we go through this, there's going to be several things to learn, several takeaways that we understand about it. But I want to start you off just thinking through that idea of if you've ever tried to teach someone something and they don't get it, what's your attitude? And remember, If we are followers of Christ, if we've accepted Him as our Savior, then we ought to be more like Christ. And so, how does Jesus handle that? Now, it starts off, this section, from there they went out and began to go through Galilee. Obviously, when you start off a passage and it says, from there they went, where is the there? Okay, Caesarea Philippi is one option. Anybody else? Okay, okay, so if you think back, you've probably got a map in the back of your Bible, or we've had them at various times. Think back, Galilee is kind of the northern area of Israel. At this point in time, Israel has the lower area around Jerusalem, and the northern area around the Sea of Galilee, and there's Samaria in between, so keep all of those in mind. Throughout the Gospel of Mark, Jesus has been in that northern area. And he's kind of traveled around, he's circled the Sea of Galilee, there's some areas that are more Gentile and areas that are more Jewish. He's even traveled as far as the Mediterranean Sea, way further up north to some of the towns up there. So he's been going all over the place. The last thing that we saw at the beginning of chapter 9 was the Mount of Transfiguration. We're not told exactly where that is. There are some really good theories, some good ideas, but it doesn't specifically say. But after Jesus comes down from the Mount of Transfiguration, it says that they went to a house. That's verse 28. That they went into a house. And again, it doesn't tell us exactly. but he had been there and he'd been teaching. And so one of the things that you need to understand as we go into this passage, the context of it, he's already been teaching his disciples and they didn't necessarily get things. They had just seen the transfiguration where Jesus is glorified by God and And it's like this big stamp of approval to say, yes, this is most definitely the Messiah. No ifs, ands, or buts. And certain of the disciples had been invited to see that. And so they should have this figured out. They should understand, they should know certain things. We're gonna find out they didn't quite yet. But they had come down off that mountain, had had an interaction where some of the disciples were trying to cast out a deep man, and that didn't work out so well. And Jesus took care of things, and then they go to a house, and they ask, well, why weren't we able to cast him out? And Jesus teaches them. From there, they went out. and began to go through Galilee. Now, like I said, Galilee is that northern area around the Sea of Galilee, but it's through that section. We don't know exactly where they're coming from or going to, but it's that general vicinity. Ultimately, we're going to find out that they go to the city of Capernaum. Who remembers where that is? Do it. It's on the shore of Galilee, right on the northern tip of it, basically. And so, that's where they're heading to. So, probably they're coming from somewhere in the south, going somewhere in the north. We don't know exactly the route that they take. But, they begin going, and notice it says, he did not want anyone to know about it. Now, in the pre-study guide that I prep and hand out on Wednesdays, and it gets emailed out with the bulletins as well, I asked the question, why? Does anybody know why Jesus didn't want anybody to know where they were going and what they were doing? Okay, to some extent, there have been threats on his life. What else? Okay, what's the next verse say? I'm telling you, context is king. Next verse, 4. Now, that ought to spark in your mind this idea that, hey, that's connected back. So, it says, That's to tell us why. What's going on? He didn't want them to know because he was teaching his disciples. And so this whole section is really gonna be dealing with that idea of Jesus is going out to teach his disciples. And he doesn't want the crowds following him right now. There have been lots and lots of opportunities for that. He has dealt with the crowds on many occasions. He's done a lot of different things with them. During Sunday school we were talking a little bit about You know, if you could go back in history and experience any event, and one of the ones that was brought up was, wouldn't it have been cool to be at the feeding of the 5,000? I mean, huge crowds. That's 5,000 men plus women and children, and this massive miracle that Jesus does. That would have been amazing to have experienced. Well, He's been dealing with these crowds over and over and over constantly throughout most of the first half of the book of Mark. These crowds have just followed him. And right now he wants to spend some time just teaching his disciples, just with them. And so it says that he did not want anyone to know about it. Now, that doesn't always mean that there's not somebody who does, but right now that is his intention, because he wants to teach them something. Now, we're gonna go through this, and this morning we're only taking 30 through 37. I do want you to understand this section, like the literary section would actually go all the way through verse 50, but I kind of figured that that was a little bit too big of a chunk, because I have a tendency to struggle with larger chunks and get it all in there. So I broke it in two sections, but the whole series, from verse 30 to verse 50, is all one unit of what's going on, and all of it, Jesus is teaching his disciples. And next week, we're gonna dig into that latter portion and take a look at how he's teaching them, why he's teaching them, what he's teaching them, and there's some really neat stuff going on there, so make sure that we come back and study that one as well. But right now, We're gonna just see four of the things that he's teaching, which means he's teaching them a lot, and he wants them to understand a lot. He wants them to know certain things. The very main thing that he's dealing with, that he's trying to get them to comprehend at this point, he has said it once already back in chapter 8. He's going to say it again in the future in chapter 10, but right now he's gonna say it here, He was teaching his disciples and telling them, That's the first thing that he was really wanting them to understand and to learn. Throughout this whole section of the Gospel of Mark, chapters eight, nine, and 10, really, Jesus is focusing on this message, this idea, this thing that he's trying to get them to understand. Now, in order for us to recognize why verse 32 says that they don't understand, what was it about this that was so significant? What was it that they weren't getting? Culturally, with the Jews, they had an expectation of what the Messiah was. Now, already, Peter has made the announcement, the statement, you are the Christ, and we looked at that several weeks ago. And this idea that Jesus is the Messiah, he is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. But even with that, the Jews had an expectation of what that was going to be. Does anybody remember what that was? Okay, that he was going to be the ruler, he was going to be the king, right? And is that accurate? Yes. Yes-ish. Yes, it is completely and totally accurate that the Messiah would come and rule and reign. but not right then. And that's what they weren't understanding. That's what they weren't getting. See, it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer. And that's what they didn't get. That's what they weren't understanding. It was required, ultimately, that Jesus be the sacrifice, the payment for their sins. And yet, they don't understand that. They don't get it. The Jews, the culture, the disciples were expecting this normal idea that the Messiah was going to come and be this mighty military commander, walk in, beat off the Romans, clear everybody else out, take over, take charge, and be the ruler of Israel. They were expecting a new David type of an idea, to come in and just be in charge and be the great king. A good expectation, accurate to the Old Testament-ish. That is who the Messiah was going to be, but they missed part of it. They misunderstood sections of it. And so Jesus is trying to help them understand that. Not that he is going to come in and take over right away and do all of these things, but that the Son of Man, verse 31, the Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men. Now, there is a lot going on just in that phrase. And it's really fascinating to kind of break down and deal with. For one thing, the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of men. And so there's this word association that's just kind of interesting to hear about. Who is Jesus? He is the Son of God and the Son of Man, both, right? He is the perfect God-man. He is deity in flesh. And that's a mind-blowing concept and idea, I realize. But who has the authority, then, in this situation? Is it the people, the men, the mankind and the rulers of that area? Or is it God himself? God himself, obviously, which is Jesus. So Jesus is God, he's the one who's in charge, and yet he has to be delivered, turned over to the hands of men. Hmm. That ought to start our wheels turning and get us kind of thinking about, wait a minute, why is God being turned over to men? But then, it also has this phrase, is to be delivered, which is an interesting idea. Who's in charge? Who has the authority? God, always, always. So who is delivering him over? Wait a minute. And this is one of those, I may be going on a little bit of a rabbit trail, but I started geeking out on the Greek just a little bit. This is, it's a middle verb, which means that he's doing it to himself. Jesus turns himself over. It's not that the men were, overpowered him and took charge of him and grabbed him and they were, they never were going to have that kind of authority. And as we go through the rest of the Gospel of Mark, we're gonna see people do all kinds of things to him. that Jesus, even here, is letting his disciples know that he is submitting himself to that. As God, as the Son of Man, he is going to turn himself over and be delivered to the hands of men for all of these things that are going to come up. And yet, he is God himself. Now, If the Jews, the Jewish men, these disciples, had this concept that Jesus was gonna come and be the ruler, be in charge, take names, be the military commander that they were expecting, and he gives them this message, that would be kinda hard to take. That would be a little bit challenging to understand and really even to accept. And so I think it's fascinating, it's interesting that Mark records three different iterations of Jesus teaching this because he wants them to understand it. He wants them to get it and we're gonna see in verse 32, but they did not understand. Before we get to that though, there's more that's told about what this idea of be delivered into the hands of men are. What are the things that are listed out that has to happen to him? Okay, he has to be killed. And he will rise again. Okay. Now, again, that's one of those where when we start to understand the Jewish theology and the ideas that they had, there was this big debate going on about the afterlife. That right now you live, when you die, then what happens? And you would even see in the New Testament, Paul has an interaction in which he pits these two against each other a little bit. There was one group that basically said, annihilation. After you're dead, that's it, there's nothing else going on. Others who said there will be a resurrection eventually. But, again, they didn't quite have their theology right. They were expecting, in the end times, long, long way ahead, there would ultimately be a resurrection, but nobody ever comes back from the dead today. I mean, that's not normal. Which is part of why, when Jesus raises people from the dead, it was a massive thing. That's not just some minor, simple, little miracle. That's a huge deal that he does. But then here, he's letting it be known, this resurrection, it's not, we're not talking end times resurrection of Christ. We're talking three days later. Very, very quick, very, very soon. So these ideas that he is trying to teach his disciples, they are vastly different than what they would expect, than what would be normal. This is kind of, Kind of crazy. Kind of hard for them to understand. So I get that there's a little bit of a challenge going on. When we come to Scripture, I'm going into a little bit of a so what in the middle here. When we come to Scripture and we find things that are difficult, that don't jive with the way that we are thinking, what should we do? Okay, pray. That's a good idea. Slow down. Go back. Reread it. Check it out. Start asking some questions. Start trying to figure it out. Work through the process to understand what scripture says. It says that they didn't understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask him. Personally, I think that it's very important that when we come to some of these things that are hard to understand, we ask those questions. Now, That can be challenging for some because we have a tendency to think that we know a lot, that we know everything there is to know about something. And so sometimes we have to humble ourselves and let go of some pride and say, you know what? I don't get it. Help me understand. That's really what that idea of prayer comes back to is that we're humbling ourselves and say, hey God, I don't get it. but I'm willing to ask you, I want to know, I want to understand, and then to take certain steps to be able to understand these difficult and challenging things. Now, as we've been going through the Gospel of Mark, this theme of the disciples not understanding, it's a regular thing, it happens over and over and over again. We've already seen it happen, we're gonna continue to see it happen, it's really a constant. During ladies Bible study this last week, they had a question. So middle of the afternoon, well late in the afternoon on Friday, I got a phone call. Hey, Isaac, we've got a question that we can't figure out. Now, they apologized a little bit for interrupting my day, and I'm like, no, this is so awesome. I love it. I love the fact that there is a desire to study and to learn and to understand. And I want to know how does this all fit together and what's going on here? And so, if you're not currently involved in one of the Bible studies, the ladies have one on Friday afternoons, get with Linda, she'll give you more information about it. The guys get together Sunday evenings and have an opportunity to go over certain things and talk about. There are lots of opportunities. We ought to be asking those questions and trying to understand and looking to learn more about who God is, what he's done, what the Bible has to say. Well, the ladies, they had a question because here it says that they did not, they being the disciples, did not understand this statement and they were afraid to ask him. And that's all it says. And so Mark kind of gives us this impression that the disciples just, they don't get it. that they're clueless. And really, throughout the Gospel of Mark, that tends to be what we're seeing. However, the ladies noticed that in the parallel account in Luke, in chapter 9, it says, but they did not understand the statement, and then it adds another phrase, and it was concealed from them. so that they would not perceive it, and they were afraid to ask him about this statement. And that raised some big questions, like, well, if it's concealed from them, who's concealing it? And why is it being concealed? What's going on with that? And so Friday, like I said, Friday afternoon, Friday evening, I got this question, and it was a good one. And it took me a while to dig into it. And so I told him, you know, hey, that's really good. And if you're asking that question, I'm gonna guess, at least I'm hopeful, that someone else who has been studying and reading through and compared these two passages, because they are parallel, will notice that distinction. And so what's going on here? Why does it say it that way? What's happening with this? Now, as I've said before, when we deal with the Gospels, we recognize that each of them is a little bit different. Now, they're never in conflict with one another, but sometimes one will record things that others didn't. In essence, it's like seeing it from a different perspective. They're recording the same thing, but they're viewing it a little bit differently. Oftentimes, with the Gospels, they are working on expressing something to a particular audience so that they'll understand certain things. Matthew is a good example. Matthew is talking to the Jews, and he wants them to understand Jesus is the King, the King who is coming. Mark, on the other hand, is primarily actually dealing more with Gentiles than with Jews. And he's likely writing this to the area, the church there in Rome, and so their culture is going to be different, their understanding is going to be different, and he's focusing on a little bit different things. Luke also has his bent and is teaching certain things, and then obviously John is vastly different than the others, but all of them fit together to tell us the big picture of who Jesus is and what he was doing, what he was teaching, what he came for. We come to this statement that's a little bit different, where in Luke it says, and it was concealed from them, and in Mark it just says they didn't understand. And that raises a question. Why didn't they understand? What was going on? Is it just that they were ignorant and that they couldn't figure it out or was something else happening? And so, like I said, very good question and I wanted to go ahead and take a moment to dig into it. It was a great rabbit trail. I don't want to run all the way down it right now. I would encourage you to go back and study it and be aware, hey, this is something that we need to take a look at. I've got a few verses that I want to, I'll give you the reference and a little bit about it. So if you want to jot these down real quick, don't just take my word for it. Just because Isaac says this is what this passage is talking about, we often say, go back and study it yourself. Make sure that I'm not off base on this. Look at it. Look up these references. Study through this idea. But there are certain things, certain passages that kind of talk about this that I think are worth digging into a little bit. In Luke, there are several examples also in which it expresses this idea that they didn't understand certain things. But then you get all the way to the end of Luke, Luke chapter 24, mainly I'm gonna focus on verse 45, but really it's that whole chapter of Luke chapter 24, and we see that after Jesus has been raised from the dead, he has several interactions with people. He'll interact with the ladies there at the tomb. He's gonna interact with a couple of disciples who were on the road to Emmaus. They're gonna recognize, oh, wait a minute, something's going on. And it says that he expounds to them the Old Testament, and that all of it's pointing to Christ. And they sit down and they have a meal together, and then their eyes are open. They're like, whoa, wait a minute. And they rush back to find the disciples, to find the 11, and tell them about it. And then Jesus appears to them. And in Luke chapter 24 verse 45, after his resurrection, it says that Jesus opened their eyes to understand the things that he had said and the things from the Old Testament. And so there was a level at which they were blinded and they didn't understand and they needed Christ to open their eyes, to open their understanding so that they would recognize these things. John chapter 12 verse 16 and John 13 verse 7 give some more examples of that same idea. So jot those down and I would encourage you to look those up as well. Yeah, yeah, I'll read through all of these again because I don't want you to miss them. The main section that I was talking about is Luke chapter 24 and verse 45 and then in John chapter 12 verse 16 and John chapter 13 verse 7. All of these are giving more examples and more areas in which they didn't see and they needed their eyes to be opened. Okay? Now, another passage that we need to be aware of, we actually dealt with this one a little bit earlier in Mark, when Jesus starts teaching in the parables. And he quotes from Isaiah, and that one's Isaiah chapter 6, verses 9 and 10. Isaiah 6, verses 9 and 10. In that one, in the Old Testament, God is commissioning Isaiah to be his prophet, to go out and announce certain things. And in doing so, God even tells him that, in essence, the people aren't going to listen. They're not going to pay attention. They're not going to hear it. And what you're doing is going to tell them Even though you're not going to see, keep not seeing. Even though you're not going to listen and hear, keep not listening. But I'm going to keep giving the information. I'm going to keep telling you. I'm going to continue to send prophets to you, even though you're not going to listen to me. And so, Isaiah 6 verses 9 and 10 is actually quoted multiple times in the New Testament. Isaiah was sent to proclaim God's message, knowing full well that they would close their own eyes and not see. They weren't going to listen. They weren't going to pay attention. They didn't want to get it. There's also, in 2 Thessalonians 2, verses 10-12, is a key passage to dig into, look at, and understand this idea of, well, why wouldn't someone understand? I mean, oftentimes we look at scripture and it makes sense, and we're like, why wouldn't people listen? Why wouldn't, I mean, Jesus, the God of the universe, comes down to earth, lives a perfect life, dies a sacrificial death on my behalf, I get to go from an eternity of hell to an eternity spent with God? Why wouldn't someone want to accept that? Why wouldn't that be just the greatest thing that anyone could ever? Why would anybody reject that? Well, 2 Thessalonians 2, verses 10-12 says that they refused to believe And thus God sent them a strong delusion so that they wouldn't, so they would continue to not. Now they had already chosen to reject him and God allowed that to stand. See also Psalm chapter 14 verse two. It says, all have turned away, there's none that seeks God. So I know that this has been a little bit of a long rabbit trail, and I've kind of rushed down it, giving you a lot of passages to take a look at. The conclusion. We find that oftentimes people can be willfully ignorant. They had the information, they heard the information, and they chose to reject it. They ignored it. and they were willfully ignorant. They refused to see what God had put before them, and thus, as a result, God sends them strong delusion, or blinds them so that they don't see what is right before their eyes. What we find as we dig through this, that really there comes to be three things that we need. We need to have a willingness to accept whatever it is that God says. And sometimes that's not easy, but we need to willingly accept it. Number two, we need the Holy Spirit to open our eyes, to guide us, to help us to understand Number three, item that I would say as you dig through this, particularly looking at that Luke and John passages, we need God's timing. Because those point to the fact that they didn't understand until after he had been raised. And so, Jesus was trying to teach them and help them understand things, and they weren't going to get it until after Jesus was raised from the dead. I've already talked a little bit about the Jews had this expectation of who the Messiah was going to be, of what he was going to do, and they just didn't get it until Jesus had actually come and shown them from the Old Testament that it was all pointing to him. And then he died and was raised from the dead, and then you get into the book of Acts, and very, very quickly there are thousands that after his resurrection, then they start to actually believe in him. And it even says in Acts that there were many of the chief priests, the leaders of Israel, who started to turn to him because their minds, their eyes were finally open. They finally understood. So, I know that's a bit of a long rabbit trail, like I said. It was really cool that I got the question asked. And then, you know, you start digging in and you start comparing and it is something that we need to understand and need to recognize. Okay, what's going on? Well, what we find is that we need to be willing to accept whatever it is that God has said. We need the enablement of the Holy Spirit to be able to understand it. And we also, sometimes it just relies on God's perfect timing for these things to come together and to make sense to us. Now, like I said, this has been a consistent theme going throughout, and so it makes sense in the book of Luke, as Luke is talking about these things, to emphasize the fact that it was concealed from them, that they didn't understand it. But, it also makes sense that Mark is simply noting that they didn't understand, and then he keeps going, and he doesn't deal with why or how or anything like that, but simply that they just don't get it. And so with that, I do think that it is important that we don't be too harsh on the disciples. But, We also need to not repeat that in our own lives. As we come to some of these things, seek out those answers, find out, figure it out, and not be unwilling to learn, unwilling to understand. Yes, ma'am. When he raised from the dead, he was in flesh. He was alive again. And there were many of the disciples who had the opportunity to see him, interact with him. Thomas even said, because he had heard the reports, I'm not going to believe it until I put my own finger into the nail print in his hand and into the spear thrust in his side. And that's what happened. Jesus said, hey, Thomas, put your hand in, feel it. And yeah, there's a lot going on there. That's a pretty good example. Go ahead. Yes. It was different because of some of the things that he's then able to do. He walks through walls, in essence. He appears in locked rooms. So it's different, but it is the same. And so, yeah, good question. There's a lot going on there. Do what? Well, yeah, so like I said, there's a lot going on there. And that's one where we may not get all of the details that we may want. But yes, he was in flesh, but it was a glorified body. And yeah. One day we will be like him as well. And so, anyway, coming back to what the disciples didn't understand, but what Jesus was trying to teach them. He wanted them to know certain things. He was giving them information that they needed to latch on to. They did not understand it, and they were afraid to ask. sometimes we have a tendency not to understand things and not to seek the answer, not to ask. And so that's my encouragement in that little section there, that we don't do that, that we don't just wallow in our ignorance, but that we actually seek out the answers, try and find them. Like I said, I was really excited because the ladies gave me a call and they were like, hey, here's our question. What's going on here? So, coming back from that rabbit trail a little bit, we're gonna continue on. Just like they did, they continued, they were having this conversation as they were traveling. And they were on their way through Galilee, ultimately they were heading for Capernaum, and this was an ongoing teaching that had been happening. That's what verse 31 is talking about. He was teaching them, continuously about these kinds of things. They arrived in Capernaum, it says they came to Capernaum, and when he was in the house, now, again, we don't know what house, there's a lot of suspicion and ideas and things going on, but it doesn't tell us what house, but they went to a place where they were staying, their base of operations, I guess, and when they get there, he begins to ask them a question. Hey guys, what were you talking about along the way? Now, we don't know how long their journey was, how long it took them to get there or anything, but like it said, they traveled through Galilee and arrived at Capernaum. So probably they had a while for this journey. Throughout all of it, Jesus had been trying to teach them, but rather than learn, they were afraid to ask questions. Apparently, they were having a conversation along the way. And so he questions them, he asks them, What were you discussing on the way? Verse 34. What did they respond? Crickets. Nothing. They kept silent. Why did they keep silent? Okay. Possibly that they were embarrassed. It says what they had been talking about on the way. They had discussed with one another which of them was the greatest. Yeah, I can understand them not wanting to fess up to that. What has Jesus just been trying to teach them? The Messiah, the God of the universe, the one who created all things was going to give himself over to the hands of men to suffer and die, to be killed, but three days later he would raise from the dead. What is the greatest? Jesus himself. Well, again, before we get too hard on them, we do need to recognize and understand a little bit about the culture in their day. It's vastly different than ours. Their society was very much hierarchical. There was the oldest brother had the responsibility to take care of the whole family when the father passed away. And so, it would be reasonable, okay, Jesus said he's gonna be killed, so that means he's gonna be gone. Therefore, one of us has to take that place and be the greatest. Which one's it gonna be? Well, I mean, Peter, looks like Peter might've been one of the oldest, so he could be. James and John, they got to go with Jesus up to the Mount of Transfiguration. Maybe it was them. but you guys didn't understand and you haven't gotten it, so maybe it could be, or we aren't told exactly how this conversation went, what the arguments were, anything like that. I'm not saying that that was a good thing for them to be discussing, but I can understand in their culture, in their society, that it might be a reasonable topic of conversation, that it would come up that they were discussing this idea of who was going to be the greatest, who was going to be in first place. Now, Notice here. When they get to the house, he began to question them. So he asks them, hey, what were you talking about? Now, I understand that this isn't as much teaching as the last section or as the next section's gonna be, but I would include this in that idea that Jesus is trying to teach them, he's trying to help them understand certain things. He wants them to grow and to develop and to become who he intends them to be, and so he asks them this question, as a way for them to have that opportunity to start thinking about, oh, well, yeah, I mean, maybe it doesn't make sense that we're arguing about who ought to be the greatest. And so he asks them this question. I don't think that he's asking it out of ignorance as much as kind of the way that God asks Adam and Eve, hey, where are you? When they're in the garden. and they don't answer because they're embarrassed and they don't want it to be known, and yet God asks, not out of his own ignorance, but to give them an opportunity to respond, to give them an opportunity. And I think that's what's going on here as well, that Jesus is asking them, not because he didn't know, because they've been traveling along, and he most likely heard along the way. Now, it doesn't tell us that for sure, That's my suspicion, that's my understanding of it. He asks them this question, giving them the opportunity to respond, and instead of responding, they kept silent because of what they'd been talking about along the way, which implies that they were embarrassed about what they'd been discussing. And so, what does Jesus do? Does he immediately berate them and launch into this idea that, oh, hey, you guys are just, no. No, what does it say? It says, sitting down. Now, again, this is one of those phrases where we need to understand a little bit about the culture. Jesus was a rabbi, right? What were the rabbis? They were the teachers. They had this process, this normal way of teaching. And when the time came for the rabbi to teach, he would sit down. In modern days, we think of the teacher as standing behind the podium, or pulpit, or whatever the device might be. And they stand there and they lecture. In their culture and in their area, Jesus sitting down, this phrase, this idea, is that he sat down and called the students around him and was about to teach them. And so he's setting up a specific opportunity to continue to teach. They had been teaching along the way. Jesus was telling them, just informing them, helping them to try and get this information, and yet they didn't understand it, they didn't comprehend it. They weren't getting it. And here, they've come to the house, they've arrived, he sits down and he sets up school time. It's like, all right guys, and it even says he called the 12 and said to them, and we're gonna find out what he's about to teach them. But he sets up this intentional teaching time. And really, the whole rest of this chapter, I told you, we're breaking the section in two parts, but all of it, all the way through 50, is going to be in this setting where Jesus sits down and open school to teach them as the rabbi, as the master, as the one who's educating them along the way. So it says, he called the twelve and said to them, if anyone wants to be first, he shall be last. Just like the idea that the Messiah, instead of coming in and ruling and reigning and taking over, instead he's going to suffer and die and be killed. This is shocking. This is a complete flip of what they would be expecting. I told you, in their culture, in their system, there was a hierarchy, and certain people were first. They were predominant. They were in charge, and the leaders, and it was known, and they had responsibility. And so it wasn't just this idea of, hey, look at me, I'm really cool, I'm really important. No, they had responsibilities as well. They had to take care of either their siblings or the household or whatever. There was requirements associated with it. But, Jesus is flipping that on its head. He said, hey, if you want to be first, requirements associated with it. But, I'm hearing voices in my head. Oh. Anyway, so instead of letting them continue with this idea of their discussion about who is mega, who is the mightiest, who's biggest, who's first, who's to be the greatest, instead, he says, hey, if you want to be first, if you want to be predominant, if you want to be large and in charge, you need to be last. complete opposite of what you'd expect. In fact, he used to be last of all and servant of all. I told you there's this hierarchy, right? There's this normal expectation in their culture of who's supposed to be up front and who's supposed to be off in the background. And this is completely different than what they were expecting. The servants, they were not the focus. They were not important. They were low down on the totem pole, as it were, in society. And yet, Jesus is saying, hey, you need to be the servant of all if you want to be the first or the most important or the mega one. Like I said, they had certain expectations, and Jesus is just flipping these all on their head. Now, this idea of servant that he lists out, this is the same word that we get the idea of the deacon from. It's that same word. Now, this is not dealing with that office of deacon like we have in the church, but it's that idea of one who serves, or who is, it's also translated at times as minister. or the one that takes care of things. A steward would be a good example as well. It's the one who serves at the beck and call of his master. Now, this word does not indicate any level of ownership. but simply the one who does that work. There's another word that Paul really enjoys using of himself, that he is the doulos, that he is the slave of Christ, which is also true and accurate, but in this one, that idea of ownership is not what Jesus is focusing on. It's what they do, that they are there to minister, to serve, to be at the beck and call, to do whatever it is that their master tells them to do. That's what it takes to be great. I ask the question, what does it take to be great? To be a servant of all. Even in our society, even in our day, that's kind of flipping the script on its head. In their society, in their day and age, that was not what it was to be. You wanted to be foremost. You wanted people to pay attention to you. You had to be an eloquent speaker, or you had to own lots of stuff, or you had to, all of these options. Today, what is normally thought of as being great? Have a movie made that you're the star of? Be elected to a major office? Run a multi-billion dollar international company? Those are the things that the world says it takes to be great. What does Jesus say it takes to be great? To be a servant. Can you star in a movie and be a servant of people? Sure, definitely. Can you be elected to an office and serve people? Well, technically, yeah, that's your job, but. Can you own a multi-billion dollar company and serve people? Most definitely, most definitely. So it's not removing those options or those ways, but it's a recognition that we serve at the beck and call of our master, Christ himself. And so, even in this passage, in this phrase, it says servant to all. So we're not looking out for our own interests, but for the interests of others. That's our job. That's our responsibility. That's what it takes to be great. Just in case the disciples didn't get it, Jesus continues to teach. And I have to say, they didn't get it. They still didn't understand, but He continues to teach. And this is the fourth item that I'm saying he's teaching in this section. It says that he takes a child. And with my camping background, I love object lessons. And that's what this is. We're not told anything about the child, who it is. We're not even told if it's a boy or a girl. We're just told it's a child. There's a child running around the house. A lot of questions come up, a lot of, huh, I wonder, it could be this, it could be that, and those are some interesting things. The text says there's a child, he takes the child, and then he does something that is, Mark's the only one that says it, and it's kind of strange. Let's step back. The culture, the setting, Jesus is a rabbi. He is first, he is predominant, he is large and in charge, that's a big deal. And then there were his students. And then there were servants in the house. And then there were the women of the house were not well favored, they weren't looked on in that society. They were very important, they were very special, but in the societal hierarchy, they're fairly low down there. There's somewhere in there are the heirs who will be inheriting things and different levels within the servants, et cetera. And so you keep going, there's the rabbi, and then all of these, and then there's the child. all the way at the bottom. And he takes this individual, brings them into the center, where children shouldn't have been in this educational system learning, shouldn't have been part of that, and yet Jesus welcomes this child in, and then takes him in his arms, embraces the child. Jesus has just elevated this way bottom, all the way up to with him. This is massive in their cultural understanding of what's going on. Jesus is continuing to teach them this same idea, but he's using a different method as he's giving them an object lesson that he takes this child and takes him in his arms and says to them, whoever receives one child like this in my name receives me. He's just equated himself with the lowest of the household. He's done exactly what he told them he expected them to do. See, Jesus wasn't giving them this set of instructions and this ideas that they needed to follow and do that he wasn't willing to because he was God himself. In fact, we're told elsewhere that we need to have the same mindset that Christ had, who did not think equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, became a servant, became obedient unto death, even death on the cross, Jesus exemplifies that right here. By taking this child, putting his arms around this child, and giving this instruction, whoever receives one child like this in my name, Now, that's an interesting phrase. It's got a couple of options that are interesting there. Either that you are Christ's representative who receives anyone to Christ on his behalf, or that this child is Christ's representative and you receive the child as if you are receiving Christ. The Greek sets up both are possible, the second is actually less likely with the structure of the Greek, and yet, as we're not going to continue through all of it, but as you continue on, you find it looks like it's that second option more. The idea that you are receiving them as if you are receiving Christ himself. Jesus, God himself, the Messiah, the God of the universe, the one who's in charge, the one who is above all things, that you are saying, you know what? I'm going to receive this small child as if it was him, as his representative, as equal with him. I'm going to embrace this child. I'm going to love on this child the way that I want to love Christ. That's the picture. That's the idea that's going on here. Jesus is saying, whoever receives a child like this in my name, receives me. It's the same thing. The lowest or the highest doesn't matter. You're receiving them as if you're receiving, you're accepting, embracing me. But that's not all. He adds to that at the end of verse 37, whoever receives me does not receive me. Now, that ought to be a little bit of a head scratch. You're like, wait a minute, you receive me, but you don't receive me. Well, if it stood alone by itself just like that, it would be. But the point that he's making is it's not about me. You're receiving the one who sent me. Who sent Christ? God himself. How do you receive God? How do you embrace God? Through Christ, obviously, but within that, it's saying through accepting this child, this lowest one. In their society, in their day and age, there was this expectation that you wanted to welcome in or receive the highest, the greatest, the best. And so you'll see these times in which Jesus is at a Pharisee's house and they pull out all the stops and they have this great feast and it's wonderful because they are receiving a rabbi type of an idea. Or Jesus goes into other houses and he's received there. That's what everybody wanted to do. But the idea of receiving a child, a nobody in their society, that was completely foreign to them. And yet, the point that Jesus is making, the lesson that he wants them to learn, is that their mindset, their attitude, their background, their expectations of who the Messiah is and of what it is to be great is completely flipped on its head. Completely different than what society had told them. Completely different than what their own expectations and experience were. Instead, Jesus wants them to understand the way of the kingdom. The way of God is a little bit different than the way of the world. So which one are you going to be a part of? Which one are you going to accept and embrace and follow? And really that comes down to our question as well. Are we gonna follow the ways of the world? Are we gonna live the society, the way that society wants us to and expects us to? Or are we gonna learn the lessons that Christ is trying to teach about who he is, about what he's done, about what he expects of us as a result? That may require us to flip the script and be completely different than what society might expect. Are we willing to do that? That might be that we even have to suffer for him. Or it might be that we have to embrace who society thinks is less than pleasant to be around. Or, or, or. I'm sure that each of us can pause for a moment and think of what are those things that God asks me to do that I'm a little embarrassed to be willing to do, or I'm less than favorable on, or I don't want to. And yet, that's the way that we serve Him. That's the way that we follow through on, do what? Stepping out of our comfort zone. Now, Jesus is gonna continue to teach, and the rest of the chapter deals with that. I would encourage you, make sure that you take some time and read through that, dig into those things that he's gonna continue to teach, and we'll be looking at those next week. The takeaway, the idea that I want to leave you with this morning, the so what, as it were. Are you listening and learning, from Christ, not from me, from Christ, from his word. Are you willing to accept it even if it's hard, even if it's not exactly what you want? Are you gonna follow it? And then, are you gonna live out even if it means that I'm not socially acceptable the way that I want to be? But I'm gonna take Christ's script instead of my own. You know, I had a couple of conversations this week about the idea of altar calls, or why don't we have, like, when I get done preaching, why don't we have these different things? And I wanted to take a moment. You may have noticed we have been singing, Thank You, Lord, at the end of the service. When you have an interaction with Christ, when you study his word, when you understand something, I don't want you to think that you have to wait until Isaac gets done preaching and then come up and make that official. That's between you and him, right then, whenever it is. Whether it's here while you're in these chairs, when you're at home, or whenever. If you recognize that Christ is calling you to do something, do it, right then. But I do want to encourage us to take a moment at the end of service and pause and think, okay, I've just heard God's word. I should approach scripture every time expecting it to change me. So what difference does God want in my life because of what I've just heard? What change should I have because of what God has revealed through his word? What do I need to do as I go out from here? And so that's why at the end of the service, I do pause and we pray. And I probably ought to give us a little bit more time to ponder on that, to think about that. And then, like I said, we are kind of switching over to just singing a simple, basic chorus because it's not to learn a new song to do anything like that. It's to just say, thank you, Lord. Thank you for doing what you do. We sing that song, thank you, Lord, for saving my soul. If you've never accepted Christ, you ought to. You don't have to get with me or some great spiritual leader, that's between you and God. Now if you need help, if you want to talk, if you have questions, by all means, I would love to, Jim would love to, any of the deacons, we would love to help lead you to that. But that's something you need to do individually on your own. We say, thank you, Lord, for saving my soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me whole. Thank you, Lord, for giving to me thy great salvation so rich and free. Let's close in prayer. And I do want to encourage you, if there's something from God's word that has challenged you, Let him change you. Let's pray. Dearly beloved, thank you for your word. Lord, it is powerful. It is amazing. It is what changes us. When we submit to it and listen to it. Father, I do pray that you would open our eyes, open our ears. Lord, it's easy to be stubborn, to want our way, to want to do things our own way. Help us to be humble, to submit to you, to do what you desire and not what we want. Lord, help us to be learners, constantly seeking the scriptures, even as Acts records the Bereans dug in and wanted to know. Lord, help us to do that. And Lord, when we come to something that's difficult, let us not keep silent, but to ask questions, to dig in, to seek the answers. Lord, you have given us everything that we need for a life of godliness. Help us to rely on it. Your word tells us the way. It gives us the answers that we need, so it help us to accept them, to live it out. even if it means that we don't fit in society the same way that we may previously have thought. Change your hearts, change your minds, change your attitudes to be conformed to the image of your son. It's in his name that we pray, amen.