Power struggles are nothing new in any organisation, power struggles usually come about because of pride and people thinking too highly of themselves. Jesus taught over and over again that there is nothing wrong with wanting to be great in His kingdom, however, it’s all about how you go about it, Matthew 20:25-28.
Jesus wanted to prepare His disciples for the tragedy that was nearing. He warned them that He would be betrayed into men’s hands and be killed, Luke 9:44, but encouraged them by announcing that three days later He would rise again, Mark 9:30-31. The disciples didn’t understand, Mark 9:32 / Luke 9:45, why? They didn’t understand the purpose of Christ’s death and when Jesus spoke of His death, the subject didn’t bring them any comfort, John 16:6 / John 19:30.
They didn’t understand the purpose of Christ’s death and they were too busy arguing about who would be the greatest in Jesus’ coming kingdom, in other words, they were struggling with pride, and they even argued about this during the Supper, Luke 22:24. Why were they afraid to ask Him about it? Mark 9:32 / Luke 9:45. As we saw above the concept of an afterlife was foreign to them, 2 Timothy 1:10.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following, concerning the words, ‘it was hidden from them’, Luke 9:45.
‘It was God’s will that the apostles while being so thoroughly briefed on all that would take place, should also fail to ‘get it’, as we might say. This seems to be a hint here that they were providentially prevented from understanding it, but it is more likely that the very conception of human salvation as something which Almighty God alone could achieve, and that even he could not achieve it without the death of the Beloved on the cross, that such a colossal truth was utterly beyond the power of the natural man to understand it until after the fact. The concealment was not due to the design of God but to the limitations of men.’
This all happened at Peter’s house, Mark 9:33. Can you imagine how Jesus must have felt? He’s about to go and die for the world and all the disciples can do is argue about who is going to be the greatest. It must have disappointed Him greatly to see the disciples competing for power, Mark 9:33, while He was preoccupied with His coming suffering.
Notice they were arguing about who was the greatest, Luke 9:46 / Mark 9:34. There’s no doubt that the disciples were still thinking that Jesus was here to establish a physical kingdom, Acts 1:6, and they wanted to know who was going to be in charge.
Mark tells us that Jesus sat down, Mark 9:35. In other words, Jesus adopts the position of a teacher which signalled to the disciples that teaching was coming. It’s then disciples came to Jesus and asked, ‘who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ Matthew 18:1.
It appears that selfish ambition is beginning to creep in among the disciples, Mark 10:35-45, in fact, this subject came up four times when they were with Jesus, Mark 9:33-34 / Matthew 20:20-28 / Mark 10:35-45 / Luke 22:24-27. In Jesus’ kingdom, He Himself would be the One with all authority, Matthew 28:12 / Ephesians 1:20-23.
It must have disappointed Jesus greatly to see the disciples competing for power while He was preoccupied with His coming suffering. Can you imagine how Jesus must have felt? He’s about to go and die for the world and all the disciples can do is argue about who is going to be the greatest! Mark 10:35-45 / Matthew 20:20-28 / Luke 22:24-27.
Jesus didn’t need to ask what they were arguing about because He already knew and so, knowing what they had been disputing, Jesus took a child into His arms and used the child as a model of the humility that should characterise the disciples, Mark 9:36-37 / Luke 9:47-48 / Matthew 18:2-5.
Jesus tells them they must ‘change’, Matthew 18:3, which means to change their thinking, change their lives, change their attitude, Acts 3:19 / Acts 28:27. The need for change by the apostles was because of their sin of worldly pride and ambition.
They must also become ‘like little children’, Matthew 18:3, children submit to their father’s rule, they trust their father will always do what is right and as a result, they will obey their fathers, Ephesians 6:1-4 / Colossians 3:20 / Exodus 20:12 / Deuteronomy 5:16 / Proverbs 22:6.
As Christians, we need to have the same submissive attitude toward our heavenly Father if we want to receive eternal life, James 4:6-7 / 1 Peter 5:6-7. The humility of a child should always be the characteristic of the disciple of Jesus, we should always be willing to serve and put others before us, not thinking too highly of ourselves, Mark 10:35-45 / Luke 9:48 / Matthew 18:4.
Jesus wants disciples who are humble like a child, free from prejudice like a child, teachable like a child, lovable as a child, He wants His disciples to have the same simple faith of a child, trust like a child, He doesn’t want His disciples to worry about anything but trust their Father and He wants His disciples to be as innocent as a child.
Welcoming a little child in Jesus’ Name, Mark 9:37 / Luke 9:48 / Matthew 18:5, refers to the complete acceptance of a child-like believer because of their innocent and unrestrained trust in the Lord. If we welcome a disciple of Jesus who is of the character which Jesus discusses in this context, we receive Jesus, Matthew 10:40-42.