Description
Mark For Everyone
MARK 9.30–37
True Greatness...
...I don’t know whether Mark wants us to feel sorry for the disciples at this point, but quite frankly I do.
Earlier in the gospel Jesus said things to them in code, and they didn’t get it. The parables were secret, hidden messages which they gradually learnt – away from the crowds, in the house – how to understand. When Jesus warned them about the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod (8.15) they thought he was making a comment about them forgetting to bring bread. They have struggled to get their minds round the fact that he often says things that have a clear meaning at the surface level, but what he wants is for them to look under the surface and find a hidden meaning somewhere else...
Taken from Mark for Everyone by Tom Wright