We understand status. At an airport, there is first class, priority check-in, TSA PreCheck, and priority boarding. Nobody pays extra for the privilege of standing in line longer or boarding last. When the gate agent announces that first-class passengers may board, we understand why people get up and walk to the front. First means privilege. And if we are honest, we like it. We like recognition. We like upgrades. We like being moved to the front.
In Mark 9, the disciples have begun to understand that Jesus is the King. But they are still carrying the world’s definition of what it means to be important. So while Jesus is talking about suffering, death, and resurrection, they are having a very different conversation: Which one of us is the greatest?
Jesus responds with a statement that turns their entire understanding of greatness upside down: “If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all” (Mark 9:35).
But before Jesus tells His disciples to go low, He shows them where He is going. Jesus never asks us to go somewhere He has not already gone.
Follow Jesus Down the Road Pride Would Never Take
Jesus deliberately takes His disciples away from the crowds because He wants to teach them something they still don’t understand. He tells them, “The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He has been killed, He will rise three days later” (Mark 9:31).
The disciples know who Jesus is. Peter has already confessed that He is the Christ. But knowing who Jesus is and understanding what kind of Messiah He came to be are two different things. They have the right title, but the wrong definition.
Jesus keeps teaching them that the way of the kingdom is the way of the cross. This is a lesson they have to learn again and again. In Mark 8, Jesus predicts His suffering and Peter essentially says, “No, that can’t happen.” Here in Mark 9, Jesus again predicts His death, and the disciples respond by arguing about which of them is greatest. In Mark 10, Jesus will again predict His suffering, and James and John will ask for the best seats in His kingdom.
Every time Jesus talks about humbling Himself, they start talking about being elevated.
And isn’t that still true of us? Nobody has to teach us to protect ourselves, seek recognition, pursue comfort, or look out for number one. But deny yourself, take up your cross, forgive, serve, give, and go last? Those are lessons we have to learn over and over again.
The irony is that Jesus calls Himself “the Son of Man”—language from Daniel 7 describing the glorious figure who receives dominion, glory, and a kingdom. Yet this glorious King willingly places Himself into the hands of men to be killed.
The cross wasn’t Jesus losing control of the story. The cross is the story.
Jesus is not grasping for His position. He is surrendering Himself. He doesn’t use His power to escape suffering; He offers His life to save sinners. The Servant King lowers Himself to save people who could never climb high enough to reach Him.
Perhaps that’s why the disciples were afraid to ask Jesus about what He was saying. They understood enough to know they might not like the answer.
Sometimes our problem isn’t that Jesus hasn’t told us enough. It’s that we understand enough to know we don’t like where following Him might take us.
“Lord, show me Your will”—until His will threatens my plans.
“Lord, expose my sin”—until He puts His finger on the sin I don’t want to surrender.
“Lord, lead me”—until He leads me somewhere I don’t want to go.
In the previous story, the desperate father brought his insufficiency to Jesus and cried, “I do believe; help my unbelief.” Here, the disciples have their own insufficiency, but they protect it. The father brings his weakness to Jesus; the disciples hide theirs.
Faith says, “Jesus, I don’t understand. Help me.” Pride says, “I would rather look like I understand than admit I need help.” Humility is having enough courage to admit the truth to Jesus.
Stop Chasing Greatness and Start Serving Greatly
When the disciples arrive in Capernaum, Jesus asks them what they were discussing on the road. They are silent because they had been arguing about which of them was the greatest.
Jesus had been talking about going down. They had been talking about moving up.
Their feet were headed toward Jerusalem, but their hearts were still chasing the world’s definition of success. They didn’t want Jesus to abolish the system of status and honor. They wanted to know where they ranked within it: “Jesus, when Your kingdom comes, where do I sit?”
But Jesus turns the ladder upside down.
“If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.”
Notice that Jesus doesn’t simply tell them to stop wanting greatness. He redefines greatness.
The world asks, “Who can serve me?”
Jesus asks, “Who are you serving?”
The world asks, “Who knows my name?”
Jesus asks, “Whose name have you learned?”
The world asks, “Who can help you get ahead?”
Jesus asks, “Who can you help who can do absolutely nothing for you?”
Greatness is not prominence, influence, or a platform. Greatness is becoming “a servant of all.”
That’s why we have to be careful even with the phrase “servant leadership.” Service can become self-centered when we use it as a strategy for advancement: “Serve people and they’ll admire you.” “Be humble and people will notice.” “Care for your people because they’ll work harder for you.”
If I serve because serving will eventually elevate me, self is still the goal.
Pride is remarkably capable of putting on a servant’s apron.
Jesus serves differently. He doesn’t serve people because they are a good investment. He serves because God is worthy and people are valuable. He has nothing to prove, so He is free to stoop low.
We’ll see this again before the cross when Jesus gets up from the table, takes off His outer garment, wraps Himself in a towel, and washes His disciples’ feet. Everyone else is concerned about position. Jesus takes the servant’s place.
Pride asks, “How do I rank?”
Christ asks, “Who can I serve?”
Greatness Notices the People Others Overlook
Then Jesus makes the lesson visible. He takes a child and places the child in the middle of the disciples.
In that culture, a child had little social status and very little power. A child couldn’t advance your career, improve your social position, get you invited to the right dinner, or repay your hospitality. From the world’s perspective, a child had a terrible ROI.
But Jesus puts that child at center stage.
The disciples want everyone to recognize them. Jesus wants to know whether they can recognize the person nobody else notices.
Jesus says, “Whoever receives one child like this in My name receives Me” (Mark 9:37). To receive someone means more than tolerating them. It means welcoming them, making room for them, and treating them as significant.
And notice the reason: “in My name.”
Why serve the vulnerable who cannot help you? Because of Jesus.
Why care about the person everyone else ignores? Because of Jesus.
Why spend time with someone who cannot advance you? Because of Jesus.
Why care for the difficult person? Because of Jesus.
Kingdom greatness doesn’t scan the room looking for the person who can elevate me. It notices the person everyone else is looking past.
I’ve experienced how difficult this can be. I remember being treated hatefully by someone in a church where I served. I can still remember them berating me with a finger in my chest. Everything in me wanted to snap back. But by God’s grace, I chose to respond with respect.
Why? Not because they deserved it.
Because that’s what Jesus did for me.
He loved and served me when I didn’t deserve it. The value of our service isn’t determined by whether the recipient deserves it or can repay us. The value comes from Christ.
Ultimately, Jesus says, “Look at Me.” What we see is the greatest One in the universe willingly going low for people who could never repay Him.
The distance between us and that child is nothing compared with the distance Christ stooped to cross to come for us.
The world says greatness means being served.
Jesus says, “I came to serve.”
The world says greatness means surrounding yourself with people who can help you succeed.
Jesus says to receive the person with no status in His name.
Because the greatest One in the universe went low. He was handed into the hands of men. He was killed. And three days later, He rose.
The road down was not the defeat of Jesus. It was His victory.
And now the risen Servant King says, “Follow Me.”
Because Jesus stooped low to save you, stop climbing for status and start stooping to serve others.
