The scheme for May – June can be found here

Jdg 10-12; Mark 9:30-50; Psalm 7

As we pondered yesterday, Jesus is the one who comes among us as the great disturber. As one writer puts it, Jesus shows up and suddenly there are demons everywhere!

Today we see how he ruthlessly disturbs our perceptions of his Kingdom. The disciples fight it out to see who is the greatest, but then Jesus tells them that the greatest must become the least – must be prepared to welcome the child.

Think for a moment of how our churches operate – of how we exclude children for the comfort of adults. So they are trooped off to Sunday School – of course we use lots of ‘grown up’ rationales for this, but we tend only to welcome children on our own terms, as long as they fit in, as long a they don’t forget who really is the greatest . . .