Small Enough? – Mark 9:30-37
Unfortunately, the disciples – just like us – sometimes have a hard time understanding their teacher. So, Jesus has to remind them for the third time that He’s going to be killed, but that He’ll come back to life.
They really need to finally grasp this so that they’ll understand that God really is in control and that what’s going to happen is part of God’s plan to save the world. Jesus wants them to be prepared, just like He wants us to be prepared. The danger is that, like the disciples, if we’re too big, too focused on ourselves, we miss the lesson.
They don’t understand what Jesus is talking about. Of course, the sensible thing to do when you don’t understand something is to ask a question, right? But these confused guys keep quiet. Maybe they’re scared to ask because Jesus rebuked Peter in Mark 8:33. Or maybe they’re frightened He may really be serious about dying, or even worse, that He might even expect them to be willing to die with Him.
They’re too big to learn. If they really understood their need to know, they’d ask despite their fears. But instead, their solution is to ignore the lesson. They hadn’t become small enough to be able to listen and learn from their teacher. But the question today is, have we grown small enough to learn from Jesus? Have we learned that lesson?
You can get too big for your britches spiritually speaking. As long as we live, God will be teaching us. He instructs us through his Word. He educates us through other people. He tutors us through circumstances, both good and bad. But the question is, are we listening and learning?
Now we can choose to ignore these lessons. Maybe the lessons cramp our style, or just seem to be too much trouble to put into practice. But one thing is sure. We won’t learn from Jesus until we get small enough to listen and accept the lessons.
Jesus says the one who serves a child serves Him, and the God who sent Him. Jesus is telling us that the greatest person is the one who serves others the way a parent serves and cares for a helpless infant.
That’s the point He’s making. You’re greatest when you finally serve the smallest, most helpless, insignificant person you know. It helps to remember that the biggest person in the universe once became small enough to learn what it means to be a human being. He became small enough to serve sinners like you and me by dying for us. He became small enough to lie in a manger, surrounded by livestock, in order to reconcile us to God. And even when He was small, He was still the biggest person the world has ever known. The question is, can we become small enough to learn that lesson?