What Is It That Is Dragging You Down?

In Mark 9:33–50, Jesus finds His disciples arguing about something incredibly human. They had been walking along the road, and when they got to Capernaum, Jesus asked them what they had been arguing about. They were silent, which is usually a pretty good sign that they knew they had been caught. They had been arguing about who was the greatest.

It is easy to read that and think, “Wow. How embarrassing for them.” But honestly, this is not that hard to understand. Just a little earlier, Jesus had taken Peter, James, and John up the mountain for the Transfiguration. They had seen something the others had not seen. Then, when they came back down, the other disciples had been unable to cast a demon out of a boy. The Bible does not tell us exactly what they were saying to each other, but I can imagine how comparison might have started creeping in. Why did Jesus take them and not us? Maybe if I had been there, I could have cast out that demon. Who does Jesus trust most? Who is the greatest?

It sounds ugly when we say it that plainly, but comparison does not always sound ugly at first. Sometimes it sounds like normal conversation. I was at an annual conference with other youth workers, and when we talked with each other, we naturally ended up asking things like how many kids come to youth group or Sunday school. Nobody was outright saying, “So, who is the greatest youth worker in this room?” But there is definitely comparison that happens.

We do this all the time. We compare our families, our homes, our churches, our kids, our jobs, our talents, our social lives, our appearance, our intelligence, our suffering, and sometimes even our faith. The disciples were not dealing with some strange ancient problem. They were dealing with a human heart problem.

Jesus responds by sitting down, calling the Twelve, and saying, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be last and servant of all.” That is not how people usually think greatness works. We tend to think greatness means being noticed, respected, successful, admired, or important. Jesus says greatness looks like being last. It looks like serving. It looks like putting others ahead of yourself.

Then Jesus brings a child into the middle of the group. In our culture, we tend to sentimentalize children. We put them in photo shoots and give them themed birthday parties and argue over whether their snacks are organic enough. But in the ancient world, children had very little social power. They were loved by their families, but they were not considered important in the way adults were.

In the Roman world, unwanted infants were sometimes abandoned because of poverty, disability, gender, questions about the child’s father, or because a family felt it could not support another child. Early Christians became known for condemning that practice and caring for vulnerable children and other people whom society treated as unimportant.

So when Jesus brings a child into the center of the group, He is making a very clear point. Greatness in the kingdom of God is not about climbing over people. It is about welcoming and serving people who cannot offer you anything in return. Jesus says, “Whoever welcomes one little child such as this in my name welcomes me.” All human life matters to God. The weak, the vulnerable, the overlooked, the poor, the awkward, the annoying, the needy, the small, the unimpressive. The people who do not raise our status by association. Especially them.

Then John speaks up and says that they saw someone casting out demons in Jesus’ name, but they tried to stop him because he was not following them. That wording is important. John does not say, “He was not following Jesus.” He says, “He wasn’t following us.” That sounds very different.

The disciples had just been arguing about who was the greatest, and now they are concerned that someone outside their group is doing work in Jesus’ name. It is hard not to see the connection. They were worried about status, control, and who belonged inside the circle. Jesus tells them not to stop him.

This does not mean doctrine does not matter. It does not mean every belief is equally true. It does not mean we should ignore serious false teaching. But it does mean we should be very careful about treating every Christian outside our own circle as an enemy. That matters when we think about church denominations too. Christians do not have to belong to our exact church or denomination for God to work through them. We can care about truth and still recognize that God’s kingdom is bigger than our particular group.

Jesus says in Mark 9, “Whoever is not against us is for us.” That used to bother me because in Matthew 12:30, Jesus says, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” At first glance, those sound like opposite statements. But the situations are different. In Matthew, Jesus is talking about people actively opposing Him and His work. In Mark, He is correcting His disciples because they are trying to stop someone who is doing good in His name simply because that person is not part of their group.

There really are only two ways to be: for Jesus or against Jesus. Helping the work of Jesus or hindering it.

And that brings us to one of Jesus’ most hardcore statements: “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to fall away, it would be better for him if a heavy millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.” That is intense.

Jesus is not casual about people being led away from God. He is not casual about people using their influence to damage someone else’s faith. When Jesus talks about “little ones,” He may be talking about literal children, but He may also be talking about believers who are young, vulnerable, overlooked, or new in their faith. Jesus takes it very seriously when someone comes between another person and God.

That makes sense when you think about how Jesus responded to the moneychangers in the temple. Luke once pointed out that Jesus took a whip, drove them out, and flipped over their tables. Why? Because they were getting in the way of people coming to worship God. Jesus is gentle with sinners who come to Him honestly. He is not gentle with people who block the way.

Then Jesus gives another difficult teaching. He says if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. If your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out. Jesus is using deliberately shocking language. He is not telling us to physically harm ourselves. Cutting off a hand or foot would not remove sin from our hearts anyway. His point is that sin is serious, and we should deal with it seriously.

Do not let anything come between you and God. That raises an uncomfortable question. What is dragging you down? Is it your phone? A friendship? A boyfriend or girlfriend? An activity? A habit? Something you watch or listen to? Something you keep excusing because it does not seem like that big of a deal?

I quit the dance team my senior year. I knew I had to cut it out of my life for multiple reasons. It consumed my life for at least six months out of the year, and there were friendships connected to it that were going to drag me down. That does not mean dance team is bad for everyone. It means I knew what it was doing in my life.

That is the question we have to be willing to ask. What is this doing in my life? Is it pulling me toward Jesus, or away from Him? Is it helping me love God and love people, or is it feeding my pride, my jealousy, my anger, my lust, my bitterness, my laziness, or my need to be admired?

Jesus ends this passage by saying, “Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with one another.” The phrase “salted with fire” is difficult, but it seems to point toward the testing, purification, and cost of following Jesus. Then Jesus brings the lesson right back to where it began. The disciples had been arguing, competing, and worrying about who was the greatest. Jesus tells them to be at peace with one another.

That is such a different way to live. Instead of comparison, humility. Instead of competition, service. Instead of guarding our little circle, recognizing the work of Christ. Instead of causing others to stumble, protecting and caring for the vulnerable. Instead of letting sin slowly drag us down, cutting off what pulls us away from God.

But this is important: Christianity is not simply about cutting bad things out of your life and trying harder to become a better person. If you have not yet placed your trust in Jesus, that is the first thing He is calling you to do before any life modification. It begins with trusting Him, receiving His forgiveness, and allowing Him to change you.