Mark 9:37

Whosoever shall receive one of such children in My name receiveth Me; and whosoever shall receive Me receiveth not Me, but Him that sent Me.

After the hurried trip through Galilee, Jesus returned to Capernaum with His disciples for the last time. Their theological training, however, was by no means at an end, as we see from this incident. The hearts and the heads of the disciples were yet filled with false Messianic hopes; the idea of a temporal kingdom would not down. And this matter they had discussed on the way, among themselves, disputing about rank, quarreling about who should be considered the greatest in their midst. The question may have been broached at this time because Jesus had taken only three of them: along on the mount of transfiguration. Jesus knew of the discussion and, by His omniscience, knew also its topic. Therefore the Lord takes occasion to teach them a badly needed lesson. While He had gone before them, busy with the thoughts pertaining to the way of redemption, they had been engrossed with their vain thoughts, how they might enhance their own glory. They must learn, above all, the lesson of the great paradox in the kingdom of God. To teach them that, He called the Twelve before Him, in a very formal and impressive way. They should, for once, get His full meaning. The general rule in the world is that he is leader and acknowledged as being first that has others working for him, doing work in his service. In the Church of Jesus the reverse is true. There the rank is in proportion to the service offered. The humbler a person is and the more willing he is to serve his fellow-men, the higher he will stand in the economy of God. Instead of urging ambition for high position and power, Christ knows of only one valid reason for fame before Him and His Father, humble, unpretentious service, without a thought of reward. In order to bring home this lesson still more thoroughly, He took a little child that may have been playing in the neighborhood, placed it in their midst, fondled it in His arms to show His deep regard, His tender love for children, and then told the disciples, that in receiving a child, in rendering to one of these little ones a service, they were rendering one to Him. And a service shown to Him is credited in heaven as though it had been shown to God Himself. This powerful lesson in true humility, in humble service, is needed very urgently in our days, since the false ambition that was found in the midst of the disciples is rampant in the Church and threatens to render much of the preaching of the cross invalid.