What Jesus Did : Mark 9:36-37 - Welcome the Child

    by Phil Ware

    Welcome the Child - Mark 9:36-37

    Then Jesus took a small child. Jesus stood the child before the followers. Jesus held the child in his arms and said, "If a person accepts children like these in my name, then that person is also accepting me. And if a person accepts me, then that person is also accepting the One (God) that sent me." (ERV) Full Text

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    Key Thought

    How we treat those from whom we can receive no status determines our heart. In Jesus' day, children were not held to be overly important in the social pecking order. In many ways, that is still true today—notice how day-care workers and teachers are still among the lowest paid professional workers in many modern countries. So Jesus reminds his followers that the way they welcome, treat, and value children reveals a great deal about their hearts. What does it say about our own?


    Today's Prayer

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    Father, thank you for challenging me to value people whom others neglect, devalue, and overlook. Help me follow through on my conviction to love all people, especially those from whom I can receive no monetary, status, or power benefit. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.


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    Today's Verses in Context


    Then Jesus and his followers left that place. They went through Galilee. Jesus did not want the people to know where they were. Jesus wanted to teach his followers alone. Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man will be given to people that will kill him. After three days, he will rise from death." But the followers did not understand what Jesus meant. And they were afraid to ask him what he meant. Jesus and his followers went to Capernaum. They went into a house. Then Jesus said to his followers, "I heard you arguing on the road today. What were you arguing about?" But the followers did not answer, because their argument on the road was about which one of them was the greatest. Jesus sat down and called the twelve apostles to him. Jesus said, "If any person wants to be the most important, then he must make all other people more important than himself. That person must serve all other people." Then Jesus took a small child. Jesus stood the child before the followers. Jesus held the child in his arms and said, "If a person accepts children like these in my name, then that person is also accepting me. And if a person accepts me, then that person is also accepting the One (God) that sent me."

    -- Mark 9:30-37 (ERV)

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