And taking a little child he set it in their midst, and having taken it in his arms he said to them,
The disciples had argued on the road about which of them was greatest. They were too ashamed to admit it to the Lord. Jesus does not answer with a lecture. He answers with a living picture: a small child, set where they can all see him, then lifted into His arms.
The child is not just a visual aid. Where He puts the child is itself the correction. Commentators note that the gospels describe the placing in different ways.
The disciples were disputing among themselves about who should be the greatest. So He takes a little child and either sets him in the middle of them, or at His own side. Either way — plainly in the centre of the group, or marked out at His own right hand — He was giving the little child the place of honour. He was rebuking the pride of life, the love of being singled out, that was at work in them then.
Mark alone records the Lord taking the child up in His arms. The rebuke of their self-importance comes wrapped in that gesture.
This leads to the scene of the lowly child, whom the Lord takes in His arms. Only here is the lesson applied to rebuke their self-exaltation. Mark also records what Matthew and Luke have as well: whoever received one such child in His name received Christ, and, in receiving Him, received the Father who sent Him.
He does not just teach the downward path. He walks it in front of them, and calls them to follow.
The Lord has taught the disciples the path of true greatness. Now He illustrates that teaching. He places a little child in the middle of them, and shows how He Himself could stoop to take a little child into His arms of love. The disciple who can receive one such little child, in His Name, will be following the Lord in the path of true greatness. He will be stooping to the lowest in the Name of the Highest.
The child brings nothing of his own. Everything depends on the Name attached to him. That, not rank, settles the disciples' argument.
That child was a small, unimportant scrap of humanity. Yet to receive one such child in His Name was to receive the Lord Himself, and the Father who sent Him too. Receiving a thousand such children in any other name, or on any other ground, would count for very little. The truth is that the Master Himself is so great that the standing of His little servants next to each other is not worth arguing about.
The Name is also the test. It shows what is really great on earth, and what is not.
Then He takes a child and declares that whoever receives such a child in His name receives Christ; and whoever receives Christ receives the Father who sent Him. The name of Christ is the test of everything, the only thing on earth that is truly great to faith.
Ambition wants a promotion it can point to. This scene measures greatness another way: by how a person treats those who can do nothing for him.
A child could not give a man the dignity of greatness. But real care for little ones shows whether a man is great in character. Receiving one of these children was receiving the Lord Himself, whose heart is tender toward the weakest. And all who received Him received the Father who sent Him.
The dispute over who was greatest was the first crack in the group. The remedy He hands them is the same child.
In Mark 9:33-37 we find the first recorded break in the unity of the twelve apostles, and its root comes to light for our instruction: they had argued among themselves about who should be the greatest. The remedy is to grow the spirit of the little child. That is the only way unity can be kept.
- Cause. The argument over who was greatest was the first crack among the twelve disciples. The child is the Lord's remedy for it.
- Gift. Setting the child in the centre gave him the place of honour. Mark alone adds that Jesus took him into His arms — love, not just correction.
- Reach. To receive one such child in His Name is to receive Christ, and to receive Christ is to receive the Father who sent Him.
- Weight. The child adds nothing; the Name adds everything. It is the test of everything, and the only thing on earth truly great to faith.
- Result. True greatness stoops to the lowest in the Name of the Highest. How you treat the weakest shows what you think of Him.
Whosoever shall receive one of such little children in my name, receives me; and whosoever shall receive me, does not receive me, but him who sent me.
The disciples had been arguing about which of them was the greatest. Jesus answered by lifting a child into His arms. Welcoming the smallest person, He says, is welcoming Him — and welcoming Him is welcoming the One who sent Him. So what does a child have to do with greatness?
Jesus does first what He then asks of His followers. He takes the child into His arms.
The Lord had taught the disciples the path of true greatness. Now He shows them what He taught. He places a little child among them, and He Himself stoops to take that child into His arms of love. The disciple who can receive one such little child in His Name will be following the Lord. That is the path of true greatness. He will be stooping to the lowest in the Name of the Highest. By doing this he will find himself in company with Christ, and to receive Christ is to receive the One that sent Him. So, refusing self and self-exaltation, we will find ourselves in company with Divine Persons.
Everything here turns on the words "in my name."
His name is made the motive, condition, or ground for receiving a little child.
If the Name is the ground, rank among the servants stops mattering. That settles their dispute.
He showed that the personality of the servant is of small significance: what does count is the Name in which He comes. The child in His arms was an insignificant scrap of humanity. Yet to receive one such in His Name was to receive the Lord Himself, and also the Father who sent Him. Receiving a thousand such children in any other name, or on any other ground, would mean little. The Master Himself is so great that the relative rank of His little servants is not worth arguing about.
A child can give nothing back. So kindness shown to a child is a true test of a person.
He uses a child as an object lesson, setting him in the midst, then taking him in His arms. A child could not give a man the dignity of greatness. But genuine care for little ones shows whether he is morally great. Receiving one of these children was receiving the Lord Himself, whose heart is tender toward the weakest. And all who received Him received the Father who sent Him.
The second half of the verse pushes the welcome past Christ to "him who sent me." The disciples were messengers themselves, and that is what Jesus turns back on them.
Were they glorying in being Apostles (that is, sent ones), and in being received by the people as such? In that there was nothing to boast of. In receiving a messenger, it is the sender of the message who is thought of, and received. So, taking a little child, and setting it in the midst, He said, "Whoever receives this child in my name receives me." What a rebuke! But more. They were messengers, and He Himself was a messenger (Heb. 3:1). So, whoever received Christ, received Him that sent Him. Who could say a word after that?
Rivalry over position did not stop with the first disciples. The remedy here is a Person, not a rule.
And what is the remedy? In one word, CHRIST. The Lord's reply was to take up a child in His arms and say, "Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me." By this He showed that the only importance any of them had was what belonged to them as representatives of Himself. Nothing else counts. They were each nothing; He was everything.
- The Name is the ground. Christ's Name is the motive and the condition for welcoming the child. It is not a phrase tacked on at the end.
- The Name lifts the lowest. A child adds nothing to anyone's status. Yet the disciple stoops to the lowest in the Name of the Highest.
- The Name outranks the receiver. The servant's own importance counts for little. The Master is so great that arguing over rank is pointless.
- The Name tests the heart. A child can give no honour back. So care for little ones shows whether a person is morally great.
- The Name reaches the Father. Receive the child, and you receive Christ. Receive Christ, and you receive the One who sent Him. Refuse self-exaltation, and you stand in company with Divine Persons.
And John answered him saying, Teacher, we saw some one casting out demons in thy name, who does not follow us, and we forbad him, because he does not follow us.
The Lord has just corrected the disciples for arguing over who was greatest. John speaks up at once, and he expects credit: he had stopped a man from using the name of Jesus. So the verse asks whether being in the right company is the same as being right.
John reports the ban as if it were good service. One writer sees it differently, and notes that John spoke for all of them, not just himself:
Even John shows how little the glory of Christ, which makes a person content to be nothing, had entered his heart yet... So John turns to our Lord right after this, complaining of someone who was casting out demons in His name — the very thing they had failed to do. Was this not a matter for thankfulness of heart to God? Not at all. Self in John took fire at it, and became the mouthpiece of the strong feeling that stirred them all. "Teacher, we saw" — not just "I." He spoke for all the rest.
John gives one reason for the ban: the man was not following them. One commentator weighs that word against the Name:
They had put far too much importance on the "us." After all, it is only a group of people, and each one is of no importance in himself. All the importance, as the Lord has just shown them, lay in the Name. The man had cast out the demons — the very thing they had just failed to do. He had done it "in Your name." So he had the power of the Name, and they had the imagined importance of the "us."
The disciples had just failed to drive out a demon themselves. One writer ties that failure to what they lacked:
They followed the Lord. In that they were right and happy. But there was a lack. The disciples asked the Lord why they could not cast out the demon. He replied, "This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer" (v. 29). These disciples followed the right Person, but they lacked spiritual condition. The man they tried to forbid did not follow with them, but there must have been spiritual condition with him.
Older translations of verse 29 read "prayer and fasting."
Christ Himself had put the disciples where they were. That right place still did not give them power.
Mark's, you will remember, is the Gospel of service, and the question here is ministry. Now the power of God in this does not depend on position. A position may be entirely right — that is, according to God's will. Even so, it will not give ministerial power to the people who hold the truest position... They were right to hold to Christ and follow no one else. But they were wrong to let any reason stop them from recognising God's power at work in another man. He was not in that blessed position which was their privilege.
The Lord's reply sounds like the opposite of His words in Matthew 12:30. One writer explains what each saying is about:
The Lord answers, "Do not forbid him." If the man had power to cast out demons in Christ's name, then he was not an enemy of Christ. He was not against them, therefore he was for them. Matthew 12:30, on the other hand, tells us, "Whoever is not with me is against me." There He speaks of the determined opposition of Satan's power. In that there could be no compromise.
The Lord did not tell John to join the man. He told him to stop interfering. That gives a rule for anyone who meets service done outside their own circle:
If God puts His seal on a man's work for Christ, let no one hinder him. Let him work, even if he serves in ways we cannot share in good conscience. To work with him might involve us in compromising some truth we see in the Word. Let him, however, work in his Master's name. He is His servant, not ours.
The same spirit is quiet. We hold back encouragement and feel sure we are right to:
We are too quick to assume that spiritual power runs only along the lines we move on. We are too quick to criticise another's devoted service because it is not cast in our mould... So we close up our sympathies, we give him no word of cheer, and brighten his life with no kind deed. We leave him severely alone, and in doing so we sincerely believe we have our Master's mind. But it is not so.
- The Name, not the group. The man stood on one thing: he acted in Christ's name. The disciples objected over one word: "us."
- Position is not power. Christ Himself called them to their place. They still could not cast the demon out. The right place does not supply strength.
- Condition supplies it. What the man had and they lacked was spiritual condition, the thing the Lord traced back to prayer.
- Two rules, two questions. Where Christ Himself is the issue, there is no neutral ground. Where service in His name is the issue, whoever is not against us is for us.
- Leave him to his Master. You are not asked to join his methods, only to stop hindering him — he is Christ's servant, not yours.
But Jesus said, Forbid him not; for there is no one who shall do a miracle in my name, and be able soon [after] to speak ill of me;
The disciples had just failed to free a demon-possessed boy, and now John reports stopping a stranger who succeeded where they could not. His only fault was that he did not travel with them, and the Lord's answer turns on the weight of His own name.
John speaks for the whole group. What could have been a cause for thanks becomes a complaint instead.
John proves how little the glory of Christ, which makes one content to be nothing, had entered into his heart now... So John turns to our Lord straight after this, complaining of someone who was casting out demons in His name — the very thing they had failed to do. "Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name." Was this not a matter for thankfulness of heart to God? Not a bit of it! Self in John took fire at it, and became the mouthpiece of the strong feeling that stirred them all. "Teacher, we saw" — not "I" only; he spoke for all the rest.
The Lord's reason is about timing. A man cannot use that name as power over Satan one moment and abuse it the next.
They had only just failed to cast out a demon, despite having authority. They should have known that anyone who could do it must have some right to. Christ's name was not something a man could use as a magic word. There must have been some reverence for that name in one who could use it as a word of power against Satan. Such a person could not turn quickly round from this to speak evil of Christ.
Kelly names what the man had and the disciples lacked.
He certainly had faith in the Lord's name, and by faith in that name he was mighty to do what the disciples, sadly, were too weak to do.
The man's success was not neutral. One writer asks who made the demons obey.
God clearly owned this man, since he was casting out demons in Christ's name. Would the demons have obeyed if it were otherwise? The events of Acts 19:13-16 give us the answer. Satan does not cast out Satan.
Elsewhere the Lord says what sounds like the opposite. The difference lies in what is at stake each time.
It is not as in Matthew 12, where the power of unbelief rejects Christ at Satan's prompting... "Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters." When it is a question between Christ and the darkening, blaspheming power of the devil, the only safety is being with Christ. The only service is gathering with Him. But sometimes no such question is raised. Instead someone little known, and perhaps knowing little, is true to the Lord's name as far as he knows it. Then let us be glad to own him, and the honour the Lord has clearly put on him, even though "he does not follow us." He is no enemy, but a friend of that name which he owns as best he knows.
John's word was "with us"; the Lord's word is "not against us." That small change carries the whole correction.
John had said they are not "with us," but even so, the Lord can say they are "not against us." The disciples were making too much of this wretched "us" — the weak little company gathered round Christ. They were making too little of Christ Himself, the glorious Person they were gathered round. The Lord reminds them that His Name is everything. The smallest act, even giving a cup of cold water to one who belongs to Christ, will not lose its reward, if done in His Name.
Owning another's service does not mean joining it.
Some work is done in the name of the Lord Jesus, yet not within the circle formed round the true centre. And what are we to do? We should meddle as little as possible. We should be glad to own whatever is done in His name, and hold fast to Him as our security, our joy and our boast.
- Name — The man's power came from Christ's name, not his own. No one can use that name as a magic word while despising the One who bears it.
- Proof — A miracle done in that name shows reverence for it. No one turns from using that name to abusing it.
- Distinction — Where a person openly opposes Christ, "not with me is against me." Where a person honours His name as best he knows, "not against us is for us."
- Correction — John's measure was "with us." The Lord's measure is His Name. In the disciples' eyes the little company had grown large and Christ had grown small.
- Practice — Do not hinder work God has clearly owned. Own it with a full heart, interfere as little as you can, and hold to Christ Himself.
for he who is not against us is for us.
John had just stopped a man from driving out demons in Jesus' name. His only reason was that the man did not belong to their group. The Lord's reply turns their test around. It also raises a question: how does it fit with His other saying, that whoever is not with Him is against Him?
The disciples judged the man by his link to themselves, not by his link to Christ. One writer notes where John put the emphasis.
The trouble was that the "us" was spelt in capital letters. John told the Master, "We tried to stop him, because he was not following US."
Notice the shift in the Lord's own wording. John says the man is not with "us." Jesus answers that he is not against "us" — the same little word, weighed a new way.
The disciples were making too much of this wretched "us" — the weak little company gathered round Christ. They were making too little of Christ — the glorious Person they were gathered to. The Lord reminds them that His Name is everything. The smallest act will not lose its reward, if it is done in His Name — even giving a cup of cold water to someone who belongs to Christ.
John had just failed at this same work himself. That failure gives the rebuke its sting.
The wrong of the situation was that John tried to stop a man from doing good — good that he himself had no power to do. The distressed father of a demon-possessed boy said to the Lord, "I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able" (Mark 9:18), and John was among them. They were powerless. These disciples followed the right Person, but they lacked spiritual condition. The man they tried to forbid did not follow with them, but he must have had that spiritual condition.
A generous heart is measured by how it reacts when someone else has more power than we do.
It is a sure mark of singleness of eye and largeness of heart when we rejoice honestly in seeing others possess a richer measure of spiritual power than ourselves, even though they do not follow us, and it is an equally sure sign of a narrow spirit when we do not.
Elsewhere the Lord says what sounds like the opposite: "Whoever is not with me is against me" (Matthew 12:30). Commentators read the two sayings as answers to two different dangers. One puts it in a single line.
Here the passage commends patience with others, in contrast with a narrow party spirit. Matthew 12:30 speaks of a loose indifference that touches Christ personally... Matthew supplies the principle applicable to ourselves, Mark that applicable to others. Neutrality here means aid; indifference, in Matthew's Gospel, hostility to Christ.
The difference lies in who is being weighed, and against what.
When He was exposing the Pharisees, He speaks solemnly and firmly — "Whoever is not with me is against me." Worldliness had set them against Him. But He speaks in other terms of those who owned Him in their affections and in their testimony, even if they perhaps lacked the strength of faith that set them in full company with Him — "The one who is not against us is for us."
The man's standing was defective, but his aim was Christ's aim, and that decided the matter.
In the Lord's conflict with Satan, everyone working toward the same end was on the Lord's side. That was true even of a man who never openly stood as one of His disciples. His confession and his way of life might be faulty. But as long as he was not against the Lord in His war with the power of the enemy, he was for Him. Paul in prison shows the same attitude toward those who preached the gospel from different motives (Phil. 1). In every way, the apostle said, Christ was preached, and so he rejoiced.
The temptation is to assume that God only works through our own methods.
We are too ready to think that spiritual power is only found along the lines we move in. So we criticise and find fault with another's devoted service, because it is not cast in our mould or carried on by our methods... So we shut up our sympathies, we give him no words of cheer, and brighten his life with no kindly deed. We leave him strictly alone. And while we act like this, we truly believe we have our Master's mind. But it is not so.
Yet the correction does not tell the disciples to leave their own ground.
The faithful should value true service wherever it is, but they can only gather with Christ... We should interfere as little as possible, and fully own whatever is done in His name. But we must hold fast to Christ Himself as our security, our joy and our boast.
- The name decides. The man's right to act came from Christ's name, not from the disciples' approval. What counted was his link to Christ, not his link to them.
- Capital "US." John's reason was he was not following us. The Lord shifts the test from "with us" to "not against us."
- Powerless critics. The disciples had just failed to cast out a demon themselves; they forbade a work they could not do.
- Two sayings, two dangers. Matthew 12:30 guards Christ's personal claims on me; Mark 9:40 guards my heart toward others. Neutrality here means help; there it means hostility.
- Own it, but stay. Recognise real service wherever it appears. But never leave the One you are gathered to.
For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in [my] name, because ye are Christ's, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.
John had just stopped a man from casting out demons because the man did not follow the disciples. The Lord's reply moves the question off the group and onto His own name, and down to an act as small as a cup of water.
John's objection was about company, not about Christ. The older translation these writers used also has the words "in my name" in this verse. One writer shows how far out the disciples' proportions had gone.
John had said they are not "with us," but even so, the Lord can say they are "not against us." The disciples were making too much of this wretched "us," the weak little company gathered round Christ. They were making too little of Christ Himself, the glorious Person to whom they were gathered. The Lord reminds them that His name is everything. The smallest act, even giving a cup of cold water to one who belongs to Christ, if done in His name will not lose its reward.
The man was doing real work, and the disciples should have been glad of it.
Here it was a question of a man who was exalting Christ according to the measure of his faith. He did it with no small power. So the disciples should have recognised this testimony to Christ's name and delighted in it. Granted, the man was not as favoured as they were. But he did exalt the name of Christ, in desire and in fact. Had their eye been single, they would have owned that and thanked God for it.
One writer sets this promise beside its opposite: helping one of Christ's little ones, and tripping one up.
Mark alone adds that even that which is least — a cup of water given in His name — will not lose its reward. What a Master we have to serve! On the other hand, causing one of the little ones who believe in Him to stumble would be their everlasting ruin.
The reason for the kindness is not who the person is, but Whose he is.
How marvellous! You meet a child of God who is weary and thirsty; you give him simply a cup of cold water in Christ's name. This act becomes a treasure in heaven, and one day the Lord will acknowledge it, for "he will by no means lose his reward."
"Truly, I say to you" is the Lord's own word attached to the promise. One writer breaks the sentence into its working parts.
We may see three main features in this text. First, someone gives up a cup of drinking water. Second, the Lord Jesus gives His guarantee: "Truly, I say to you." So it will not be forgotten and lost, like water spilled on the ground. Third, we have the Lord's own promise in writing that the cup of water will not lose its reward. These rewards are in heaven. The cup given is our "savings." The Lord's word is our security. He is on high, where we shall be, and that makes it "heavenly." The scripture we carry with us is our "certificate."
If nothing is lost, then differences of service will show. One writer puts that into plain arithmetic, and adds what else that day will bring to light.
In that day the Lord will overlook no service done for Him on earth, however small... If A has given one cup of cold water and B two, B will have a double reward. That day will also make clear what kept us from doing more good. It will take account of the light we had, the opportunities we enjoyed, the grace given to us, and the work of the Holy Spirit in us.
Yet reward is not the reason to act. One writer keeps the two apart.
Christ's heart cannot forget the least thing done out of love to His name. It does not matter how simple the act is, or how humble the disciple who does it. Even if the service is never carried out, He remembers the honest desire to serve and please Him. Love rewards, but working for reward and working for love are two different things.
- Name. The Lord settled the dispute by one measure: His name, not the company a person keeps.
- Belonging. The kindness counts because the person you help belongs to Christ. That is the only qualification.
- Smallest. A cup of water is the least imaginable gift, and Mark alone records that the Lord attached a reward to it.
- Guaranteed. "Truly, I say to you" is the security. The reward waits in heaven, and one day the Lord will acknowledge it.
- Love. Two cups bring double the reward, but reward is never the motive — love is.
And whosoever shall be a snare to one of the little ones who believe [in me], it were better for him if a millstone were hung about his neck, and he cast into the sea.
The Lord has just spoken of a cup of cold water given for His name's sake. Here He turns that measure around: harming one of His little ones is weighed by the same name.
One writer makes the whole passage turn on one test: what a person thinks of Christ.
Christ is everything — value for His name tests all. A cup of cold water for His name's sake shows value for Christ. So a believing child is of all account; so what would turn us away from Him must be sacrificed, whatever it may be. It is now an eternal question.
Why is the language here so severe? One writer traces it to love.
So love wraps itself around those it loves, like a mother with a baby, and grows, one might say, passionate in denouncing those who would harm them — so does God care for the feeblest of His own!
A child's faith counts as much as an adult's:
It appears from Mark 9:42 that this little boy already believed in Jesus. The Lord is as pleased to own the faith of a little child as He is to own the faith of a grown-up person. The "little ones" who believe in Jesus on earth will praise Him forever in heaven.
One writer explains what causing a little one to stumble means — and what it does not mean.
There may be the very opposite of this — "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin." What is meant by this? Anything likely to shake their confidence in Christ, to put a stumbling-block in their way. It does not mean anything said in faithful love to their soul. People may take offence at this; but that is not what is spoken of here. It is what tends to shake the confidence of the little one in God Himself.
Mills were part of everyday household life, and they were not all the same size.
In the East these are usually small, every family having its own mill. A woman, or sometimes two, sit at the mill, turning the upper stone, casting in the grain occasionally through a hole in it. Larger mills are also referred to, the stone being turned by an ass. Num. 11:8; Matt. 18:6; Mark 9:42; Rev. 18:21-22.
The warning reaches ordinary believers, not only open enemies.
Take care you are not a stumbling-block. You may say, a person must be very weak to feel such and such a thing, but that is the very reason why he is to be cared for. May the Lord grant that we never hinder but help the weak! These things are the stumbling-block of the enemy, and the man through whom they come is so far an instrument of Satan. The Lord loves His little ones.
One writer sets two warnings side by side: watch how you treat others, then deal with the evil in yourself.
Warnings follow. Let us beware that, in condemning others, we are not putting a stumbling block in the path of one of Christ's little ones. Further, let us see to it that we deal faithfully with every evil tendency in ourselves, by refusing all that would lead into sin. This may involve the stern refusal of what is most precious to the flesh: the hand, the foot, and the eye. It means refusing every form of evil into which these parts of us can lead. Let us not forget that these evils are taking men on to the never-ending judgment.
- Least measured. A cup of cold water counts, and a stumbling-block counts. Christ's name is the test in the smallest matter either way.
- Least valued. Faith alone marks out the "little ones." God cares for the feeblest of His own, and a child's faith counts as much as an adult's.
- Least defined. Causing stumbling means shaking someone's confidence in Christ. Speaking to them in faithful love is not that.
- Least excused. Weakness in another is the reason to take care, not an excuse. Small things in our own lives can become the enemy's trap.
- Least spared. The warning then turns inward: judge hand, foot and eye without mercy. What is at stake never ends.