Mark 9:35

‘And he sat down and called the twelve, and he says to them, “If any man would be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” '

The words of the few clearly disturbed Him. He recognised that there were strong feelings among them about their own greatness, and that this probably applied to all the twelve, so He called the twelve together and ‘sat down' to teach them as a Rabbi would sit down to teach his pupils (or simply perhaps because He was tired). Then He explained what true greatness consisted of. It consisted of taking the lower place, indeed seeking the last place. It consisted in serving others (see Mark 10:43; Matthew 20:25; Matthew 23:10). It consisted in counting others better than themselves (Philippians 2:3).

But the point, of course, was that such an attitude had to be genuine. If they merely did it to be ‘humble' it would be no good. The truly great man does not make a show of being humble, he is humble because he knows the truth about himself. (Today the one who insists on washing other people's feet is often not as humble as the one who allows it to be done, unless of course there is some genuine need for the feet to be washed. It is so often only outward show. Nothing is worse than ostentation. In those days people washed men's feet because it was necessary and because it was the task of a servant, not in order to achieve greatness).

Matthew tell us that at some point the disciples asked, “Who then is greatest under the Kingly Rule of God?” (Matthew 18:1). And in Matthew that had led on to similar sayings to those that follow in Mark 9:36.