#39 The True Standard Of Greatness Series

#39 The True Standard of Greatness

Mark

Chuck Sligh

March 1, 2021

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TEXT: Please turn in your Bibles to Mark 9:30.

INTRODUCTION

Illus. – When I was a young assistant pastor on a puny salary, I supplemented my income by offering my services to sing at funerals for unchurched relatives of the deceased. I only got about $25 each time, but back in the 1980s, $25 went a lot farther than it does today. I had some unusual experiences which I have shared in sermons before.

But most funerals weren’t particularly unusual at all. Somewhere in most funerals, someone would get up and say, “Jack was a great man” or “Mary was a great person.” That’s true of just about every funeral I’ve been to, back then and since. I always wondered what was the standard of greatness by which they measured these people.

In today’s text, Jesus tells us the true standard of greatness. Let’s look today at Mark 9:30-41 which contains one of the most radical ideas in history—so radical, it upended the disciples’ understanding of the Messiah and the kingdom to come.

I. NOTE FIRST, IN VERSES 30-32, THAT JESUS GIVES A SECOND PREDICTION OF HIS DEATH AND RESURRETION.

We begin at verse 30 – “And they departed from there and passed through Galilee; and he would not that any man should know it.”

Having finished their public ministry, Jesus begins a journey that inevitably leads to Jerusalem…and to death. Jesus had already told the apostles in chapter 8 that, “the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders, and by the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.”

You’ll recall that this brought a rebuke from Peter, and a counter-rebuke from Jesus when He said, “‘Get behind me, Satan! For you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but the concerns of men.’” Jesus’ harsh rebuke hushed Peter for the moment, but it didn’t change his mind about how things were going to go when Jesus was declared Messiah. So Jesus tried again to prepare them for what was really going to happen.

The second prophecy is in verse 31 of our text: “For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, ‘The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after he is killed, he shall rise the third day.’”

Jesus taught about His coming passion and resurrection, and no doubt He went to the Old Testament to show that these things were prophesied for the Messiah. So you’d think it all would start to sink in by now right?—Actually, no.

We read in verse 32 – “But they understand not that saying, and were afraid to ask him.”

Why did they not understand?—Mark says, “They were afraid to ask Him.” They were following whom they believed to be the Messiah, but this stuff about suffering, and dying and being raised from the dead just didn’t fit their theological and emotionally comforting boxes they had put Him into. So they were afraid to ask Him about any of it because they didn’t WANT to hear about suffering and betrayal and death and a cross or even resurrection. Despite Jesus’ earlier rebuke of Peter for opposing His suffering and death, and despite two long talks explaining that it WAS going to happen, the disciples sincerely did not believe what Jesus was telling them, and they were AFRAID to believe it, so…they just blocked it out, hoping Jesus would just stop talking about it.

II. IN VERSES 33-37, JESUS TEACHES THE TRUE STANDARD OF GREATNESS.

Let’s read verses 33-34 – “And he came to Capernaum: and being in the house, he asked them, ‘What was it that ye disputed among yourselves on the way?’ 34 But they held their peace: for on the way they had disputed among themselves who should be the greatest.”

Jesus already knew the answer, but He asked them anyway what they had been arguing about on the way to Capernaum. All of a sudden, you could hear crickets. The Greek is interesting here: the words for “asked” and “kept silent” are in the imperfect tense, indicating Jesus kept asking and they kept being silent. So it went something like this: “What were you arguing about?” Silence. “Come on, what were you talking about?” Crickets. “Okay guys, ’Fess up. Tell me what it was all about.” Still silence. Mark doesn’t say if anybody ever did answer Jesus.

Well, Jesus knew they had been arguing over who would be greatest in the kingdom. Here’s how the argument between them might have gone: Peter probably claimed the place closest to King Jesus because of his great declaration about Him being the Christ, the Messiah. On the other hand, I can hear James and John shooting that down, for if anyone would have the Lord’s favor, it would be them because they were the cousins of Jesus and part of His inner circle. Judas would have staked his claim on the fact that he was the only one to hold an office. – He was the treasurer of the group. Matthew?—Not a chance; he ‘d been a tax collector. On and on it went.