Dissing the Twelve
A Reflection on Mark 9:30-50
It’s almost that road trip time of year. Glorious days spent tooling down the highways and byways of this great land. Singing rounds of Ninety-Nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall—or if you’re a really holy Christian, Ninety-Nine Bottles of Pop on the Wall. Spending hours on end playing the billboard alphabet game and filling up on snacky junk food at every gas station. These are the good times. The memory-making vacations that bond family and friends together. Right?
Uh . . . Well, actually, that’s the glorified version. What about the stench when someone yanks off his shoes? The fights over the radio station? The bickering about where to eat, or the endless knock-down-drag-outs over who gets the coveted shotgun seat? When you really think about it, locking yourself in a car filled with smelly mammals and hauling all those fannies around the country isn’t always a wonderful way to spend time. And, trust me on this, Jesus knows exactly how that feels.
Besides being the Son of God, Jesus is a saint for traipsing around Israel with a bunch of thick-headed, whiny disciples. Toward the end of Mark chapter 9, we get an up-close-and-personal snapshot of how their road trip went.
In verse thirty-one, it says Jesus wanted to spend more time with his disciples to teach them, so they traveled by themselves for a while. It was a noble effort on Jesus’s part because he wanted to warn/prepare them for his upcoming death on the cross. He tells them straight up, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies. He will be killed, but three days later, he will rise from the dead.”
Pretty clear, eh? Apparently not. In verse thirty-two it says the disciples didn’t understand him. Gah! What is wrong with these people? What’s not to understand about that?
But, before we go off on the twelve, let’s pause right here and take a look in the mirror. It’s easy to blame the disciples for being blockheads because we have the advantage of twenty-twenty vision having lived on the other side of his death and resurrection. But how many other statements does Jesus make that we don’t understand? Come on. Admit it. Can you honestly say you fully comprehend everything that Jesus said? Remember that answer next time you’re tempted to look down your nose at the disciples.
As Jesus and his twelve made their way to Capernaum, there was some whispered squabbling going on, just under the radar of what Jesus could hear—or so they thought. As soon as they stopped for a rest, he asked them outright what they had been discussing, and . . . crickets. Silence. Nada. No one dared answer him. But of course Jesus knew and made it a point to gently reprimand them for arguing about who among them was the greatest.
Sheesh. How could they not know Jesus was the greatest?! Seriously. But let’s pull out that mirror again, shall we? How often do you compare yourself to others—and you come out the winner?
I look way better in my jeans that that woman does.
Look at that idiot in the Honda who’s going to cause an accident. Thank God I’m a better driver than that.
She’s wearing not wearing a mask. What a selfish pig.
She’s wearing a mask. What a mindless sheep.
Before you go ragging on the disciples for acting like junior-highers, point your finger back at yourself and ask for God’s forgiveness for the times your pride rises up and puts others down.
Similarly, in verse thirty-eight, John says to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone using your name to cast out demons, but we told him to stop because he wasn’t in our group.” This time, Jesus puts the hammer down by saying, “Don’t stop him!” and goes on to say, “Anyone who is not against us is for us.”
Yeah, stupid disciples. Why stop a passionate fellow from doing an obvious good deed? Hold on there, Hoss. Jump down from your high horse and let’s look in that mirror one last time.
Just because you go to a solid, Bible believing, theologically accurate church doesn’t mean others outside that circle can’t do things for Jesus in a completely different way than you would. Don’t squash someone else’s good works simply because they’re “doing it wrong.” God created us all different, so how we go about serving him is going to look different. This is a great reminder for us to be encouragers not discouragers.
It’s easy to dis the disciples as we read about their blunders, but keep in mind that you mess up as often as they did. I, for one, am glad my life isn’t on display in black and white for everyone to read about. Even so, God sees each time I puff up with pride or don’t understand something He plainly says in the Bible.
But you know what? He still loves me, and He still loves you, every bit as much as He loves His disciples. That’s called grace. Amazing grace. And if you are taking a road trip this year, remember to pack along a hearty amount of it.