There were persons who were very close to the Lord Jesus, yet they understood nothing of what He said. We will see who they were and why they did not understand. Fortunately, there is also a positive example of someone who did understand.
In this second part, we read from
Mark 9:31-37
31. For He taught His disciples and said to them, The Son of Man shall be delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill Him; and after He is killed, He shall rise on the third day.
32. But they did not understand that word, and they were afraid to ask Him about it.
33 .And He came into Capernaum, and when He had come home, He asked them, What were you talking about among yourselves on the road?
34. But they were silent, for they had had an altercation with one another on the way about who was the most important.
35. And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, If anyone wants to be first, he must be last of all and a servant of all.
36. And He took a child, put it in their midst and embraced it, and He said to them:
37. He that receiveth one such child in My Name receiveth Me; and he that receiveth Me receiveth not Me, but Him that sent Me.
Again, the Lord Jesus is teaching about His suffering and death and resurrection. He is teaching. What was the purpose of this teaching? Quite clearly: That they would become aware, of that which awaited their Lord, that they could sympathize….
They did not understand! And therefore had no fellow feeling with the Lord Jesus.
So how did that happen? In verse 33, the Lord Jesus asks His disciples a question: What did you talk to one another about on the road? Shortly after He taught them. Verse 34 gives the answer: Which of us is the Most Important .
Well, very simply, the Most Important is the Lord Jesus.
Lesson: If you are so preoccupied with yourself, convinced of your own rightness, you have not turned your focus on the One about Whom it is really about, you miss His teaching, you don’t understand what He is saying, and you get strife questions, arguments.