Not Your Name; My Name - Mark 9:36-41 Series

Mark 9:33 They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the road?" 34 But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest. 35 Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all." 36 He took a little child and had the child stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, 37 "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." 38 "Teacher," said John, "we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not following us." 39 "Do not stop him," Jesus said. "No-one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, 40 for whoever is not against us is for us. 41 I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward.

What in the world do all those verses have to do with each other? Be first by being last, welcome the children, John pipes up about telling some guy to stop doing exorcisms, reward for giving a cup of water—is this section just a hodgepodge of unrelated ideas? No. It’s all about one topic, and if you want to know what it is, all you have to do is underline each time you see the word, name.

The Name of Jesus

37 "Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name …

38 … we saw a man driving out demons in your name

39 …. "No-one who does a miracle in my name

41 … anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name

Four times in five verses. Guess how many times we see that in the whole rest of the gospel. Zero. Mark never talks about ministry in the name of Christ throughout the book, except in this passage where it’s in every verse. So I’m going to go out on a limb and say I think this section is about the name of Christ.

And that’s good because for most of us, the name of Christ is kind of a vague concept. How often do we give any thought to whether our actions are being done in his name? There is a popular praise song titled “There is Power in the Name of Jesus.” It’s not hard to learn. They just repeat that one line a dozen times. But to keep it from becoming too shallow, they add another line. “Break every chain” (36 times). So at the end of 5 minutes of repeating it like a mantra, hopefully you get the point that there is power in the name of Jesus, but what does that mean? Power for what? And how do you get that power? Just say the words—36 times and you’ve got it? What about the sons of Sceva in Acts 19 who said the words but didn’t get the power? They tried to drive out a demon using Jesus’ name in Acts 19 and the demon said, “I know who Jesus is, but who are you?” and beat them all up.

The Context: Our Great Name

This passage is going to teach us some crucial truths about the name of Christ, and step 1 in understanding them is the context. Remember from last time what’s going on here. This is all springing out of the disciples’ argument over who was the greatest. And don’t forget: we are the disciples. The disciples are not unusually slow dullards on the pages of Scripture to give us something to laugh at. They are there as a mirror to show us exactly what we are all like. Last time we looked in that mirror and found that the drive to exalt ourselves and to seek earthly greatness is endemic—permeating our souls. Every one of us is on a quest, every day to establish and promote our great name. That’s what we are doing when we seek earthly greatness in the eyes of men—we are seeking to elevate our name.

And Mark is giving us the remedy for that which is very simple. You can sum it up in five words: Not your name; Christ’s name. Jesus responds to their argument about who was greatest by saying, “My name … my name … my name … my name. Not your name; my name.” The solution to self-importance is not self-deprecation. The solution to self-importance is Christ-importance.

It Endears You to God