Mark 9:33-37

The New Community (3) - Social Interactions

The narrative would take a new turn as Mark assembled a further series of incidents and teachings relating to relationships within the community of disciples. Jesus had consistently adopted a strong stance of inclusivity; he had criticised the embedded attitudes and practices of the culture that served to marginalise people; he had strongly resisted the pervasive “honour code” and patriarchy in general; his focus was on persons more than on judgment and rejection.

Jesus was insistent that these same attitudes should take shape in the community of disciples. They were to model to the surrounding culture the possibilities of life in the Kingdom.

The conversion required to live authentically the values of the Kingdom would prove to be a struggle, not just for Jesus’ immediate disciples, but for Mark’s community and for the Church of subsequent ages.

No “Honour Code” in the Christian Community

Human Dignity is Shared Equally

Jesus and the disciples had been over the border in the region of Caesarea Philippi north east of Galilee. Mark had then proceeded to recount a number of incidents without giving any explicit geographic location other than saying that eventually Jesus was in the process of passing through Galilee. His journey had been basically southwards, bringing them to Capernaum on the lake shore.

Mark 9:33-37 – Who is the Greatest?

33 They came to Capharnaum
and once inside the house he asked them,
“What were you arguing about on the way?”

The question was posed in the house. The location indicated that the issue would be about community matters and interpersonal relationships.

The disciples’ argument had happened on the way. The way was the generally accepted manner of referring to the Christian way of life after the death of Jesus. So the incident had particular relevance to the life of Mark’s own community, even though its point of origin lay with the interpersonal struggles of Jesus’ own disciples.

34 They were silent;
while on the way they had been arguing among themselves
which of them was the greatest.

The lack of faith of the disciples, their hardness of heart, was not firstly a question of their personal loyalty to Jesus. Their difficulty lay in their capacity to come to terms with Jesus’ vision of the details of life in the Kingdom.

The present incident underlined the insidious power of accepted cultural values, specifically in this case the issue of power in interpersonal relationships. Whenever people interact, it seems to be indelibly written in human nature to engage immediately, though often unconsciously, in considerations of relative importance: Who is the greatest? The disciples were no exception; nor is the Christian community.

Yet, in Jesus’ vision of the Kingdom, everyone was of equal worth and dignity, each worthy of the same respect, because God loved everyone with infinitely passionate love.

In the contemporary world of the disciples, questions of “honour” could sometimes be more significant than matters of life and death. Jesus wished to radically subvert this attitude. In the community of disciples, relative dignity could never be allowed to be an issue.

35 Jesus sat down,
called the Twelve and said to them,
“Whoever wants to be first
must be the last of all and servant of all.”

Jesus recognised the need to address the problem immediately. Deliberately to sit down was to adopt the stance of teacher. In calling the twelve Jesus was effectively addressing the ‘all’. This would be a message for all disciples, though perhaps particularly relevant to those of all ages who tend to see themselves, and are often regarded by everyone else, as the greatest. Positions of responsibility within the community, given the pervasive power of cultural values, tend to be seen as correlative to dignity.

36 Taking hold of a child, he stood it out in front of them.  
He then put his arms around the child ...

Jesus’ response was a parable in action. He took a child in his arms. (As usual, Mark conveniently had his actors in the drama lined up in the wings.)

In Western culture Jesus’ action would not be particularly striking. Children are welcomed, and their needy status is generally recognised. However, in the cultural world of Jesus, and also of Mark’s community, children were socially non‑entities; so Jesus’ gesture would have been seen as remarkable. He personalised those whom society saw as non‑persons.

... and said to them,
37 “Whoever welcomes one child like this for my sake
welcomes me;
and whoever welcomes me,
welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”

What was meant by “welcoming for Jesus’ sake”? It could hardly have meant “as though the child were Jesus”. That would have ignored the basic human dignity of the child as an individual. It would also have been a pretence as well by the one who welcomed: equivalently “using” the child to reach out to Jesus, and in the process demeaning the innate dignity of the child. More likely, for my sake implied welcoming with the vision and attitude of Jesus: 

  • seeing the child’s radical human dignity, irrespective of its size, usefulness or position within the honour code, 
  • and responding to it out of love, empowered by the life-giving love of Jesus within. 

By welcoming in this way, a person respected the God (the one who sent me) whose love, in and through Christ, was the empowering energy of human loving and respecting, as well as the source of everyone’s human dignity.

The decisive action of welcoming the little child had the effect of explicitly countering the cultural attitudes to status and honour. In following Jesus’ lead, the disciples would inevitably fall foul of the guardians of the status quo (who were effectively everyone), whether within the Christian community itself or outside it.


Stresses in the Community of Disciples – 2

In the light of the previous reflection about signs of disintegration within the group of disciples, this incident becomes particularly relevant. As the initial founding vision enunciated and lived by Jesus encountered increasing opposition from the leadership and the people generally, and above all as the disciples struggled to come to terms with Jesus’ prediction of his arrest and execution (and their own likelihood of facing opposition and suffering), the unifying power of the shared vision began to lose its hold on the disciples.

In this climate of tension from without and within, as their formerly unquestioned assumptions were found increasingly to be unreal, their lack of deeper unity began to show itself. Superficial unity gave way to competitiveness. The focus shifted from the shared vision to individual interests. The disciples began to lose faith in each other.

Jesus’ response was to try to call them again to a deeper insight into his vision of the Kingdom. His clarification may have engendered deeper rejection rather than insight and acceptance. Certainly the message was not taken to heart and integrated by all, as the unfolding stream of events would show.


Next >> Mark 9:38-41