Aug 19th

1 Samuel 11     Jeremiah 48     Mark 9     (Click on the Reference to go to the passage)

Upon the arrival into Capernaum, Jesus takes his disciples to task about their argument on the road. They are understandably reluctant to confess to their master the nature of their disagreement. Having just witnessed Jesus driving out of an evil spirit from a young boy, and learning that such acts could only be accomplished through prayer and being humble before God, it is a humiliating experience to be reprimanded by their teacher for arguing over which of them ranked as the greatest disciple.

 Jesus sits them down and points out that is the quality of a servant that will mark them out as his followers.  That this instruction does not sink in is very evident from their behaviour in Mark 10.35, with James and John asking Jesus to do for them whatever they ask, rather than what they might do for him.

We should perhaps ask ourselves on occasion whether we are too concerned with what we want and our own status, maybe on quite trivial matters such as that the disciples were discussing, ahead of what we can give and how we can serve others.

(church musician)