Introduction
Are you willing to follow Jesus when discipleship feels “complicated”, when your pride gets exposed, your relationships get tense, and your sin demands uncomfortable change? Jesus teaches me (and you) in Mark 9:30–50 that the path forward isn’t a bigger ego or a more impressive platform, but a childlike faith that listens to Him, serves the lowly, welcomes others in His name, and takes sin seriously so we can live at peace with one another.
Main Points
Listen When You Don’t Understand Yet
Jesus “did not want anyone to know” because He was focused on training His disciples (Mark 9:30–31). This is His final journey through Galilee before Jerusalem, and He repeats the core lesson: the Son of Man will be delivered, killed, and after three days rise (Mark 9:31).
But the disciples “did not understand” and were “afraid to ask” (Mark 9:32). That fear makes sense: earlier, when Peter rejected the idea of suffering, he was sharply corrected (cf. Mark 8:31–33). So now they go quiet.
I want you to notice how discipleship often breaks down right here: not because Jesus is unclear, but because we don’t want the implications, or we’re scared of being corrected. Childlike faith doesn’t pretend; it asks. It listens. It says, “Jesus, I’m not tracking, but I trust You. Teach me.” The Father’s command at the transfiguration still stands: “Listen to him” (cf. Mark 9:7).
Trade Competition For Kingdom Servanthood
When they arrive in Capernaum, Jesus asks what they were discussing on the road. Silence. They had argued about “who was the greatest” (Mark 9:33–34). That is the disciple-heart in its childish mode: competitive self-importance.
Jesus doesn’t merely shame them, He redefines greatness: “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all” (Mark 9:35). In other words, the kingdom is upside down from the world. In the world, greatness climbs. In the kingdom, greatness stoops.
So I’m going to press you gently: where are you still trying to be “the greatest”? In your marriage? Your job? Your ministry role? Even subtle comparison can poison a community. Jesus calls us out of that treadmill into the freedom of serving.
Receive The Lowly As Receiving Christ
Jesus then puts a child in their midst, takes the child in His arms, and says: “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me… and him who sent me” (Mark 9:36–37). That is staggering. The way you treat the “small” person is a direct indicator of how you receive Jesus Himself.
In their culture, children had little social status. Jesus chooses someone unimpressive to make His point: childlike faith is humble, dependent, and open-handed. This connects with Jesus’ later teaching: “Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it” (Mark 10:13–16).
Here’s the practical edge: in church life, we can treat kids (and anyone who seems inconvenient) as interruptions rather than disciples-in-training. But Jesus puts the child in the middle. He centers the overlooked. If we really hear Him, we won’t need constant pleading for servants in children’s ministry, or for those who will love families under strain, or for those who will care for people who cannot “repay” us with status.
Refuse The “Us Only” Spirit
John then brings up a situation: they saw someone casting out demons in Jesus’ name, and they tried to stop him “because he was not following us” (Mark 9:38). Do you hear it? Not, “He wasn’t following You,” Jesus, “he wasn’t following us.”
Jesus corrects them: “Do not stop him… For the one who is not against us is for us” (Mark 9:39–40). Christ’s name is bigger than our clique. His mission is not limited to our circle.
This doesn’t mean doctrine and discernment don’t matter; it means we must not confuse loyalty to Jesus with loyalty to our tribe. Childlike faith can rejoice when Jesus works through others, even when they are outside “our group.”
Notice And Honor Small Acts Of Faithfulness
Jesus adds a promise that feels almost too ordinary: “Whoever gives you a cup of water… because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward” (Mark 9:41).
That’s discipleship realism. Most kingdom impact won’t look dramatic; it will look like small, faithful service offered because someone “belongs to Christ.” Jesus sees it. He rewards it. So don’t despise the unnoticed, quiet obedience, especially the kind that serves the needy, the overlooked, and the inconvenient.
Make War On Sin To Protect “Little Ones”
Then Jesus turns sharply: “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin…”, better to have a millstone hung around your neck and be thrown into the sea (Mark 9:42). Jesus is tender with the humble and terrifying toward those who harm the vulnerable.
He continues with graphic language about personal sin: if your hand, foot, or eye causes you to sin, cut it off / tear it out, because it’s better to enter life maimed than to go to hell, “where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:43–48). He is not commanding literal self-mutilation; He is commanding ruthless repentance. Treat sin like the deadly thing it is.
Childlike faith is not soft on sin. It is humble enough to say, “Jesus, I can’t manage this. I need decisive change.” And it is loving enough to say, “I will not normalize what endangers others, especially ‘little ones’ who believe.”
Keep Your Salt And Pursue Peace
Jesus ends with difficult, dense words: “Everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness… Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another” (Mark 9:49–50).
Whatever the complexities here, Jesus’ direction is clear: disciples will face purifying, refining realities (“fire”), and we must not lose the preserving distinctiveness of true discipleship (“salt”). Then He lands the plane on community life: be at peace with one another.
Notice how that connects back to their argument about greatness. Pride fractures; humility reconciles. Sin spreads; holiness preserves. Rivalry multiplies complications; childlike faith produces peace.
Conclusion
Mark 9:30–50 shows me that Jesus trains His disciples like a Father on the road: He teaches us the cross and resurrection, confronts our craving to be “the greatest,” places the lowly in the center, rebukes our tribalism, honors small service, warns us fiercely about sin, and calls us to be salty, distinct, purified, and peaceful.
So I’m calling you to a simple, childlike step: stop hiding behind silence or self-importance. Ask Jesus. Listen to Jesus. Serve like Jesus. Welcome the overlooked in Jesus’ name. And cut off whatever leads you into sin, so you can live at peace with your brothers and sisters.
Father, You spoke from heaven, “Listen to my beloved Son.” Help me to obey. Forgive me for the ways I chase greatness, compare myself, and protect my ego. Give me childlike faith, humble, teachable, and dependent on Your grace. Teach me to welcome the lowly as though I were welcoming Christ Himself, to rejoice when Jesus works beyond my circle, and to honor small acts of service done in His name. Make me ruthless in repentance and gentle in love, so I do not cause “little ones” to stumble. Keep Your salt in me, refine me through whatever fires You allow, and make me a peacemaker in Your church. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Conclusion
Mark 9:30–50 shows me that Jesus trains His disciples like a Father on the road: He teaches us the cross and resurrection, confronts our craving to be “the greatest,” places the lowly in the center, rebukes our tribalism, honors small service, warns us fiercely about sin, and calls us to be salty, distinct, purified, and peaceful.
So I’m calling you to a simple, childlike step: stop hiding behind silence or self-importance. Ask Jesus. Listen to Jesus. Serve like Jesus. Welcome the overlooked in Jesus’ name. And cut off whatever leads you into sin, so you can live at peace with your brothers and sisters.
Closing Prayer
Father, You spoke from heaven, “Listen to my beloved Son.” Help me to obey. Forgive me for the ways I chase greatness, compare myself, and protect my ego. Give me childlike faith, humble, teachable, and dependent on Your grace. Teach me to welcome the lowly as though I were welcoming Christ Himself, to rejoice when Jesus works beyond my circle, and to honor small acts of service done in His name. Make me ruthless in repentance and gentle in love, so I do not cause “little ones” to stumble. Keep Your salt in me, refine me through whatever fires You allow, and make me a peacemaker in Your church. In Jesus’ name, amen.