S2E22: Don't Register Your Patent (Mark 9:33-42) [PYNWJ10]
Fights about hierarchy and control lead to rivalries and quarrels, with people trying to claw their way to the top. But in God’s kingdom, all of this is reversed. In this passage, we learn that it is entirely possible for the official leaders of a movement—even a righteous one—to completely miss the point. Meanwhile, it is possible that outsiders actually are better at understanding the movement’s mission, and they shouldn’t be rejected just because they aren’t members of some official institution. Jesus emphasizes faithfulness to his way over membership in the group. Moreover, in the case of the movement that Jesus was ushering in, those who harm or hinder children on their path are condemned in the strongest terms, while children themselves are held up as models of the true kingdom.
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