Mark 9:35 Study Bible: And he sat down, and called the twelve; and he said to them, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be last of all, and servant of all."

◄ Mark 9:35 ►

Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the last of all and the servant of all."

Study Bible

Sitting down
In the cultural and historical context of the time, a rabbi or teacher would often sit down to teach, signifying authority and readiness to impart wisdom. Jesus, by sitting down, assumes the role of a teacher, preparing to deliver an important lesson to His disciples. This act of sitting is not just a physical posture but a symbolic gesture of His authority and the gravity of the teaching that follows.

Jesus called the Twelve
The Twelve refers to the twelve apostles, a group specifically chosen by Jesus to be His closest followers and to carry on His mission. The calling of the Twelve is significant as it underscores the intimate relationship and the special role they play in the unfolding of the Gospel. This calling is a reminder of the personal nature of Jesus' ministry and His desire for close fellowship with His followers.

and said
The act of speaking here is crucial. Jesus' words are not mere suggestions but authoritative teachings. In the Greek, the word used for "said" often implies a declaration or proclamation, emphasizing the importance and weight of what is about to be communicated. Jesus' words are life-giving and transformative, meant to instruct and guide His disciples.

“If anyone wants to be first
This phrase challenges the conventional understanding of greatness and leadership. In the Greco-Roman world, being first was associated with power, prestige, and authority. However, Jesus redefines what it means to be first, turning worldly values on their head. The desire to be first is not condemned but is redirected towards a higher, spiritual purpose.

he must be the last of all
Here, Jesus introduces a radical concept of servant leadership. To be "last of all" is to willingly take the lowest position, to serve others selflessly. This teaching is countercultural, challenging the disciples to adopt a posture of humility and service. The Greek word for "last" (eschatos) implies the least in rank and dignity, highlighting the call to humility.

and the servant of all.”
The term "servant" (diakonos in Greek) is often used in the New Testament to describe one who serves others, not out of obligation but out of love and humility. This concept of servanthood is central to Jesus' ministry and mission. By calling His disciples to be servants of all, Jesus is inviting them to follow His example, to live lives marked by selfless love and service to others. This teaching encapsulates the heart of the Gospel, where true greatness is found in serving others, reflecting the character of Christ Himself.

Persons / Places / Events

1. Jesus
The central figure in this passage, Jesus is teaching His disciples about true greatness in the Kingdom of God.

2. The Twelve Disciples
The group of Jesus' closest followers, who are being instructed on the nature of leadership and service.

3. Capernaum
Although not mentioned in this specific verse, the context of the chapter indicates that this teaching took place in a house in Capernaum, a significant location in Jesus' ministry.

Teaching Points

True Greatness in the Kingdom
Jesus redefines greatness, contrasting worldly views with Kingdom values. True greatness is found in humility and service.

Servant Leadership
Leadership in the Christian context is not about power or position but about serving others selflessly, following Jesus' example.

Humility as a Virtue
Embrace humility as a core Christian virtue. It requires putting others' needs before our own and seeking to serve rather than be served.

Practical Servanthood
Look for everyday opportunities to serve others, whether in the church, community, or home. Small acts of service can have a significant impact.

Counter-Cultural Living
As Christians, we are called to live counter-culturally, valuing service and humility over ambition and self-promotion.

Bible Study Questions

1. How does Jesus' teaching in Mark 9:35 challenge the world's view of greatness and success?

2. In what ways can you practice being "the servant of all" in your daily life?

3. How does the example of Jesus washing His disciples' feet in John 13 relate to His teaching in Mark 9:35?

4. What are some practical steps you can take to cultivate humility in your relationships and interactions?

5. How can the principles of servant leadership be applied in your workplace or community involvement?

Connections to Other Scriptures

Matthew 20:26-28
Jesus teaches about servant leadership, emphasizing that greatness comes through serving others, similar to His message in Mark 9:35.

Philippians 2:3-7
Paul echoes Jesus' teaching by urging believers to have the same mindset as Christ, who humbled Himself and took on the nature of a servant.

John 13:12-17
Jesus demonstrates servanthood by washing His disciples' feet, providing a practical example of being "the servant of all."

Sermons

A Child for a Text	C. S. Robinson, D. D.	Mark 9:33-37
Ambition	Chas. Hedge, D. D.	Mark 9:33-37
Disciples Disputing	Expository Discourses.	Mark 9:33-37
Honour	R. Green	Mark 9:33-37
In My Name	M. F. Sadler.	Mark 9:33-37
Lesson Against Pride	J. H. Godwin.	Mark 9:33-37
Receiveth Me	M. F. Sadler.	Mark 9:33-37
The Desire to be First	H. Clay Trumbull.	Mark 9:33-37
The Lesson of Humility	G. Petter.	Mark 9:33-37
The Lesson of Humility	J.J. Given	Mark 9:33-37
The Symbolic Child	E. Johnson	Mark 9:33-37
The True Child Our Pattern	Vita.	Mark 9:33-37
Who is the Greatest	J. C. Gray.	Mark 9:33-37
Who Shall be Greatest?	A.F. Muir	Mark 9:33-37

People

Elias, Elijah, James, Jesus, John, Peter

Places

Caesarea Philippi, Capernaum, Galilee, High Mountain

Topics

Anyone, Desire, Desireth, Minister, Sat, Says, Seating, Servant, Sitting, Twelve, Wants, Wishes

Dictionary of Bible Themes

Mark 9:35

     5181   sitting
     7026   church, leadership
     7632   Twelve, characters of
     8206   Christlikeness

Mark 9:33-35

     2045   Christ, knowledge of
     5857   fame
     6134   coveting, prohibition

Mark 9:33-36

8353 tolerance

Mark 9:33-37

     2036   Christ, humility
     2378   kingdom of God, characteristics
     5554   status
     8205   childlikeness

Mark 9:34-37

5937 rivalry

Library

February 2 Evening
One star differeth from another star in glory.--I COR. 15:41. By the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest. And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all.--Be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

Christ's Lament Over Our Faithlessness
'He answereth him and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you?'--Mark ix. 19. There is a very evident, and, I think, intentional contrast between the two scenes, of the Transfiguration, and of this healing of the maniac boy. And in nothing is the contrast more marked than in the demeanour of these enfeebled and unbelieving Apostles, as contrasted with the rapture of devotion of the other three, and with the lowly submission and faith of Moses and Elias. …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Omnipotence of Faith
Jesus said unto him, If them canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.'--Mark ix. 23. The necessity and power of faith is the prominent lesson of this narrative of the healing of a demoniac boy, especially as it is told by the Evangelist Mark, The lesson is enforced by the actions of all the persons in the group, except the central figure, Christ. The disciples could not cast out the demon, and incur Christ's plaintive rebuke, which is quite as much sorrow as blame: 'O faithless …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Unbelieving Belief
'And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief.'--Mark ix. 24. We owe to Mark's Gospel the fullest account of the pathetic incident of the healing of the demoniac boy. He alone gives us this part of the conversation between our Lord and the afflicted child's father. The poor man had brought his child to the disciples, and found them unable to do anything with him. A torrent of appeal breaks from his lips as soon as the Lord gives …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

An Unanswered Question
'What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way?'--Mark ix. 33. Was it not a strange time to squabble when they had just been told of His death? Note-- I. The variations of feeling common to the disciples and to us all: one moment 'exceeding sorrowful,' the next fighting for precedence. II. Christ's divine insight into His servants' faults. This question was put because He knew what the wrangle had been about. The disputants did not answer, but He knew without an answer, as His immediately …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Salted with Fire
Every one shall be salted with fire.'--Mark ix. 49. Our Lord has just been uttering some of the most solemn words that ever came from His gracious lips. He has been enjoining the severest self-suppression, extending even to mutilation and excision of the eye, the hand, or the foot, that might cause us to stumble. He has been giving that sharp lesson on the ground of plain common sense and enlightened self-regard. It is better, obviously, to live maimed than to die whole. The man who elects to …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

'Salt in Yourselves'
'Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.'--Mark ix. 50. In the context 'salt' is employed to express the preserving, purifying, divine energy which is otherwise spoken of as 'fire.' The two emblems produce the same result. They both salt--that is, they cleanse and keep. And if in the one we recognise the quick energy of the Divine Spirit as the central idea, no less are we to see the same typified under a slightly different aspect in the other. The fire transforms into its own substance …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

'This is My Beloved Son: Hear Him'
'And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is My beloved Son: hear Him.'--Mark ix. 7. With regard to the first part of these words spoken at the Transfiguration, they open far too large and wonderful a subject for me to do more than just touch with the tip of my finger, as it were, in passing, because the utterance of the divine words, 'This is My beloved Son,' in all the depth of their meaning and loftiness, is laid as the foundation of the two …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Jesus Only!
'They saw no man any more, save Jesus only with themselves.'--Mark ix. 8. The Transfiguration was the solemn inauguration of Jesus for His sufferings and death. Moses, the founder, and Elijah, the restorer, of the Jewish polity, the great Lawgiver and the great Prophet, were present. The former had died and been mysteriously buried, the latter had been translated without 'seeing death.' So both are visitors from the unseen world, appearing to own that Jesus is the Lord of that dim land, and that …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Transfiguration
'And after six days Jesus taketh with Him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and He was transfigured before them. 3. And His raimemt became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them. 4. And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus. 5. And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for Thee, and one for Moses, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Receiving and Forbidding
'And He came to Capernaum: and being in the house He asked them, What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way? 34. But they held their peace: for by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest. 35. And He sat down, and called the Twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all. 36. And He took a child, and set him in the midst of them: and when He had taken him in His arms, He said unto them, 37. …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

July the Ninth Scholars in Christ's School
"He taught His disciples." --MARK ix. 30-37. And my Lord will teach me. He will lead me into "the deep things" of God. There is only one school for this sort of learning, and an old saint called it the Academy of Love, and it meets in Gethsemane and Calvary, and the Lord Himself is the teacher, and there is room in the school for thee and me. But the disciples were not in the mood for learning. They were not ambitious for heavenly knowledge, but for carnal prizes, not for wisdom, but for place. …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

The Lenten Fast.
"This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer."--ST. MARK ix. 29. You remember the narrative from which I have taken this verse. Jesus, as we read, had just come down from the Mount of Transfiguration, and when He was come to the multitude, a certain man besought him saying, "Have mercy on my son, for he is lunatic and sore vexed, and I brought him to Thy disciples, but they could not cure him." Then Jesus rebuked the devil, and the child was cured from that hour. Thereupon His disciples …
John Percival—Sermons at Rugby

The Child in the Midst.
"And He took a child and set Him in the midst of them: and when He had taken him in His arms, He said unto them, Whosoever shall receive one of such children in My name, receiveth Me: and whosoever shall receive Me, receiveth not Me, but Him that sent Me."--ST. MARK ix. 36, 37. It is one of the characteristics of our time, one of its most hopeful and most encouraging signs, that men are awaking to higher and purer conceptions of the Christian life and what it is that constitutes such a life. We …
John Percival—Sermons at Rugby

Of Hell
"Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." Mark 9:48. 1. Every truth which is revealed in the oracles of God is undoubtedly of great importance. Yet it may be allowed that some of those which are revealed therein are of greater importance than others, as being more immediately conducive to the grand end of all, the eternal salvation of men. And we may judge of their importance even from this circumstance, -- that they are not mentioned once only in the sacred writings, but are repeated …
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

A Caution against Bigotry
"And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in Thy name: and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us. But Jesus said, Forbid him not." Mark 9:38, 39. 1. In the preceding verses we read, that after the Twelve had been disputing "which of them should be the greatest," Jesus took a little child, and set him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, said unto them, "Whosoever shall receive one of these little children in My name, receiveth …
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

Faith's Dawn and Its Clouds
In the text there are three things very clearly. Here is true faith; here is grievous unbelief; here is a battle between the two. I. Very clearly in the text there is TRUE FAITH. "Lord, I believe," says the anxious father. When our Lord tells him that, if he can believe, all things are possible to him, he makes no demur, asks for no pause, wishes to hear no more evidence, but cries at once, "Lord, I believe." Now, observe we have called this faith true faith, and we will prove it to have been so. …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 18: 1872

The Child in the Midst.
And he came to Capernaum: and, being in the house, he asked them, What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way? But they held their peace: for by the way they had disputed among themselves who should be the greatest. And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all. And he took a child, and set him in the midst of them: and when he had taken him in his arms, he said unto them, Whosoever shall …
George MacDonald—Unspoken Sermons

Absolute Surrender
"And Ben-hadad the king of Syria gathered all his host together: and there were thirty and two kings with him, and horses, and chariots: and he went up and besieged Samaria, and warred against it. And he sent messengers to Ahab king of Israel into the city, and said unto him, Thus saith Ben-hadad, Thy silver and thy gold is mine; thy wives also and thy children, even the goodliest, are mine. And the king of Israel answered and said, My lord, O king, according to thy saying, I am thine and all that …
Andrew Murray—Absolute Surrender

Thoughts Upon Striving to Enter at the Strait Gate.
AS certainly as we are here now, it is not long but we shall all be in another World, either in a World of Happiness, or else in a World of Misery, or if you will, either in Heaven or in Hell. For these are the two only places which all Mankind from the beginning of the World to the end of it, must live in for evermore, some in the one, some in the other, according to their carriage and behaviour here; and therefore it is worth the while to take a view and prospect now and then of both these places, …
William Beveridge—Private Thoughts Upon a Christian Life

The Three Tabernacles
And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. MARK ix. 5. Caught up in glory and in rapture, the Apostle seems to have forgotten the world from which he had ascended, and to which he still belonged, and to have craved permanent shelter and extatic communion within the mystic splendors that brightened the Mount of Transfiguration. But it was true, not only as to the confusion of his …
E. H. Chapin—The Crown of Thorns

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