The True Path of Glory
April 26, 2026 · Daniel Coughlin · Mark 9:30–37 · Gospel of Mark
Sermon Notes / Transcript
Scripture Reading — Mark 9:30–37
This is God's word and it is eternally true.
From there they went out and began to go through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know about it. For he was teaching his disciples and telling them, "The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him."
And when he has been killed, he will rise three days later. But they did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask him.
They came to Capernaum, and when he was in the house, he began to question them, "What were you discussing on the way?" But they kept silent.
For on the way, they had discussed with one another which of them was the greatest. Sitting down, he called the twelve and said to them, "If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all."
Taking a child, he set him before them. And taking him into his arms, he said to them, "Whoever receives one child like this in my name receives me. And whoever receives me does not receive me, but him who sent me."
This is the word of the Lord.
Heavenly Father, may the words of my mouth and the thoughts of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.
The Glory of the Resurrection Through the Humility of the Cross
Our scripture passage today teaches that the glory of the resurrection can only be rightly understood through the humility of the cross — and that life in God's kingdom is marked not by striving for greatness, but by receiving the lowly in faith and in service.
Jesus Teaches on His Death and Resurrection — Again
First, in our passage, it's interesting — and it stands out — that Jesus again teaches on his death and his resurrection. What's this, the third time that we've read this in just a few short verses?
This is a teaching that Jesus — you know, following the arc of Mark, the story arc — Mark spends a lot of time telling us about healings and miracles in the beginning. He's establishing who Jesus is, what his power is. And then we hit the transfiguration, and all of a sudden a lot of Jesus' teaching is more focused on his death and his resurrection. Repeatedly. Over and over again.
And this will tie into the end. But you know who loves to hear stories over and over again? Children. Right? Like, there are books that over the course of my years of parenting — which, you know, my oldest is 16, but if you add up all their ages, I've been a parent for like 90 years. So, right — 16 plus 15 plus 14, all the way down, all the years for each individual child.
There are stories that I have read just dozens and dozens of times. And there are books that we've thrown away because of that — I'm like, I will never read that one again, no. But there are others where it's like, okay, yeah, we're going to keep going back to this story.
Children have an insatiable appetite for stories, for teachings. And Jesus, knowing our weak frame, he goes back to the disciples again and again: Listen, I'm going to suffer. They're going to turn me over. I am going to die. And I am going to rise again.
A Spiritual Problem, Not a Hearing Problem
Now, I'm sure it wasn't that concise. I'm sure it was a teaching — he explained it, he gave significance to it.
And the problem isn't a hearing problem. It's not that they couldn't hear his words. They weren't deaf in the normal sense of the word deaf. The problem wasn't an intellectual problem.
Parents, do you ever get this situation where you're reading something to your kids, and then you stop and you're like, "What did I just say?" And they parrot it back to you exactly — the words that you just said — but they have zero understanding of it? Does that happen in your household as well?
It wasn't an intellectual problem. It wasn't that it just didn't sink in. They heard the words. It was part of the conversation. It was a spiritual problem.
The spiritual problem was that they heard — and I know this is hard, but just think about this — they heard, "I'm going to die. I'm going to be handed over. I'm going to die. And then I'm going to be resurrected." And you know what they thought?
Ooh, I like the sound of a resurrection. That sounds pretty good. Like, that sounds like we're there. This is the end times. Glory is coming.
The Track Meet Illustration
And so, you know, whenever my kids do something, all of a sudden I start preaching about it — those things get integrated in. And so right now we're doing track.
And the way that this has me thinking is: you sign up for the track team, and instead of thinking about, "Oh, I'm going to have practice, and we're going to have town runs, and we're going to do hurdles, and all the hard things that you do" — the sole thought you have when you sign up for track is: I'm going to stand up on that podium and they're going to put a medal on my neck and it's going to be glorious. I am ready for that.
Now we all know that would be foolish. Because what is really the consequence of signing up for track? Running and throwing and the sore muscles and the pain. It's like being pregnant and thinking about, "Oh, it's going to be lovely holding that baby," but then kind of forgetting that there's nine months of difficulty, and then there's the labor.
There's a process to go from point A to point B, and you can't just skip over A because you're really excited for B. You have to do the work to get the results.
The Disciples Were Ready for the Podium
The disciples, though — they were ready for the podium. They had heard Jesus teaching about the resurrection and they thought, Ah, here — we're done.
We should be sympathetic. Jesus says, "I'm going to die. And then there's going to be the resurrection. I'm going to be brought back from the dead." And you know what they thought?
Well, of course, everyone's going to believe then. You can't kill someone and have them be brought back from the dead and not have everyone universally say, "The Savior! Death has been overcome and conquered!"
So this must be the end of all things where everyone comes to believe, everyone bows the knee because Jesus came back from the dead. And so now let's start divvying up and trying to figure out which one of us is going to have the seat of honor next to Jesus at the feast of the bridegroom. We're here at the culmination of all things. We're on the inside. Let's get ready to celebrate.
Pride Swells Up
And then what happens? All of a sudden pride starts to swell up inside of you. I should be the greatest. "Oh no, but I was there with him on the mountain at the transfiguration." "Oh yeah, but I went out — he sent me out and I healed that guy over there. Remember that? So I should be the greatest."
Can you guys with siblings think about how this conversation might go? "Oh no, you don't get the front seat — I get the front seat. I get it. You had it last time. And so I get it this time, and I get the biggest piece of cake because of this." Can you just — I know you don't do this at home — but can you imagine the kind of bickering and quarreling over the best stick or the best seat or the best whatever that the disciples fell into?
This kind of pride can swell up anywhere. Kids, it's easy to pick on you because I have kids and I know what it's like. I had a sister, and so I know that. But it happens in churches too.
"I've been here the longest. I've done the most. I'm the pastor. I'm an elder. I'm a deaconess." All of a sudden these entitlements work their way in. And all of a sudden you get groups — "Oh yeah, over here, this is the Paul group. And over here, this is the Apollos group." And then they start fighting over priorities.
These are the kind of entitlements that need to be addressed and killed. Otherwise, the church is at risk of wandering off the path, just like the disciples did.
Silence Before God
And then an amazing thing happens. Jesus asks what they're talking about, and what do they say? Nothing. They clam up fast.
It's like when God asked Adam in the garden after the fall, "Where are you?" What did Adam do? He hid.
Silence is a defense mechanism. If you want to stay under the radar, use your stealth technology to stay under the radar — you're quiet. But silence before God isn't neutrality.
Why? Why is God unique when it comes to silence? When God asks a question, you know what he knows? The right answer. The real answer.
So why does God ask questions? Why does Jesus say, "What were you discussing on the way?" It is a test. And did they pass? No. No, they did not.
Because silence can be a lie. If you're accused of something and you're talking with God — who knows your heart — you know what you're saying if you stay silent? "I don't want to tell you." That's the best version. But really it's, "I don't think you know, and so I don't want to get in any more trouble than I really am" — which is the denial of what we really know about who God is.
Does God know the secret thoughts of your hearts? Yes. If you go up to the mountain, can you get away from God? If you climb really high? If you get in a submarine and you go down to the bottom of the ocean, can you get away from God? No. Let's say you go out into the middle of the forest — there's no cell phone reception there — can you get away from God? No.
Where is God? Everywhere. God is everywhere. You cannot escape his knowledge. You cannot escape his knowing your thoughts, your heart, your emotions, your feelings, your desires. He knows it. He knows what it was like yesterday and the day before. You can't get away from it. Your silence — that defense mechanism — doesn't work with God.
Sin Is Easy When You're In It
Problem is, sin is so easy when you're in it. Can you imagine the disciples walking along the road doing their little one-upsmanship about who should get the best seat? The easiest thing. But then all of a sudden: "Oh yeah, what were we talking about? Oh — how did we — Jesus is asking me what we were talking about. How could we have descended into such stupidity? He was telling us about his suffering and dying. Did we get so far off track?"
We don't often have God call us out for our sins directly. We don't have the voice of God coming in and convicting us of our sins. But what God has given us is the Holy Spirit. He's given us a conscience, and the Holy Spirit works with our conscience to prick us — to prick our hearts, to convict us of our sins — so that when we start down that path, every once in a while you'll get this little conviction:
- Don't say that to your wife.
- Don't go down that path.
- Don't click that button.
- Don't turn on that radio station — I know where that thought leads.
- Don't sit by that person — I know where that conversation's going to go.
- Don't turn on that TV station — I know the hopelessness.
Maybe it's a word of correction from a friend. A friend told me the story of a man who was gazing at a beautiful woman as he drove his car down the road — and then crashed into the car in front of him. That's a kindness of the Lord. That's a discipline of the Lord. That's a correction. That's a rebuke.
So how do you react to that? How do you react when your conscience is pricked or God's corrective discipline comes and pushes you in a different direction, grabs your attention?
Because there's a stubborn pride in man that when we're caught, we deny the reality of our sin. I think that's what the disciples are doing here. That's why they didn't just immediately say, "Oh yeah, we were pretty impressed with ourselves and we started boasting about who was going to be the best in the kingdom and sit in the best seats."
That stubborn pride — I think it comes from this idea that we think there's an eternal "innocent until proven guilty" standard. So we don't confess our sins. We don't fess up to them. Because if we don't say the words out loud, God can't use them against us in a court later on.
But God knows your sin. He knows your heart. There's no hiding. Even if there was an eternal right to remain silent, it would be of no use — because God knows your bones, your organs, he knows your heart, he knows your secret thoughts.
When God convicts, silence hardens sin. Silence hardens sin. Confession, on the other hand, opens up the means of grace. It's like opening the shades and letting the light come in — that disinfecting light.
So be careful how you respond to being called out for sin. How you respond to God's work in your heart when the Holy Spirit convicts you of sin. You can grow insensitive to the conviction of the Holy Spirit. You can squash those thoughts, those feelings, those convictions. You can push them down and harden yourself to the Holy Spirit.
Last of All, Servant of All
So the disciples stay silent, and Jesus addresses their conversation anyway. It absolutely was a test. They were discussing who was going to be the most important in glory. At a different time, it was an argument over who would sit at Jesus's right hand.
And Jesus says:
"If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all."
This is the heavenly order. And this is what the first of all was going to do. Jesus is the first of all. And he was on his way to the cross. He was on his way to lay down his life, to suffer and die. And he — not just like you and I — he came down from his heavenly throne. So he came down from higher than we have ever been or ever will be. And then he's going lower for us than we can go ourselves.
He's going down to the depths. How? He's going to die. He's going to be buried. That's the ultimate descending — from the heavenly throne to a burial ground.
Jesus is going to be the last and the servant of all as he makes his way to his cross. But the disciples — they don't want the suffering. They don't want to hear about suffering or think about suffering. They're focused on the glory. They want the crown of glory, not the cross.
This is an easy religion to sell. An easy religion to sell is all about the crown, all about the glory, all about the goodness. But it's a superficial religion. Because the reality of the Christian life is that the crown comes after the cross.
They needed to have really heard Jesus's words about being betrayed, his death and his resurrection, and to see that Jesus is preparing himself for that suffering, for that dying. That's what Jesus is committed to — to step down from his seat of glory, the glory that he had before the creation of the earth and everything in it. But they were so focused on what they were going to get, they didn't see the cost. They didn't see what Jesus was willing — was in the process of paying — for them.
The Child: A Picture of Humility
And so Jesus decides a picture is in order. He calls a young child.
Children grow up pretty quick. Pretty quick they're toddling around. But this child is a picture — a contrast with what the disciples were. The disciples are there scheming about who's got the best seat. And then all of a sudden he picks up — what, a one-year-old? — and he holds up the child as a picture of humility to pull their eyes off of their upward mobility.
A child with no status, no resume, no wealth. Just a young child.
Children are a delight and a wonder. Babies are beautiful. But they're not impressive. They're not strong. They're not powerful. They're not rich. I mean, their parents might be, but the child himself — what is a child satisfied with in life? Just about anything.
You can give a child a stick, or a pile of dirt, or a simple toy, milk — a cardboard box — and most children are going to be delighted with the simplest of pleasures. The child is not thinking about being the greatest. He has no capacity to compare himself among others. Our minds are full of thinking what's in it for us and how we've got to earn what we get.
"I Have to Be Right Before I Come"
I was thinking about this because I invited a man to church this week, and his response to me was kind of funny. He said something along the lines of, "Well, you know, I don't want to go to church because I like to work on Sundays, and I know that in the Bible it says that you're supposed to rest on Sundays — rest on the Sabbath. And so I struggle to go to church."
And if you really think about what he said — he wants to be right before he comes to church. Struggles to rest on Sundays. And not like works from 10:30 till noon — over the church hour — but just working in general.
And I'm sympathetic, because:
- We fear rest because rest feels unearned.
- We fear rest because it makes us dependent — and we don't want to trust God.
- We fear rest because we've got so much work to do. So much weight falls on you and me. We can't rest. We can't take time off.
And I try to explain that the gospel invites us to rest because Jesus has already done the work. Jesus does not ask us to first work and then earn our rest. No — we're called to this childlike faith that trusts in the Father's provision for us.
"Come unto me, all you who are weary and heavy laden. Come to me," says Jesus.
And think about it — he just picked a kid out of the crowd and called him up and then holds him in his arms. There is no glory like being just a received child. Just welcomed.
Receiving the Least Is Receiving Christ
There's no glory in receiving a little child either. Loving, teaching, caring for little children — it requires love and faith, because it's selfless. When our love and our faith dry up, everything becomes about ourselves. About me — how I'm growing in influence, how I'm growing in money, how I'm growing in stuff.
And I think this is why our generation isn't having children, but is instead killing the children inside their wombs. Because we've given ourselves over to a selfishness — this life is all about me and what I can accumulate, what I can get. This life is all there is. There's no resurrection. There's no hope for after I die. And so we become consumed with what we need today. I can't sacrifice. I can't pour myself out.
But receiving the least in Jesus's name is receiving Christ. And receiving Christ is not just receiving Christ, but is also receiving the Father — the Father who needs nothing.
Because receiving — that's like hospitality. That's giving a cup of water. That's caring for. How do we care for God the Father, the creator of all things? Work the logic back:
- If you receive the child, you receive Jesus.
- If you receive Jesus, you receive the Father.
So how do we receive the Father? We look at the helpless. We look at the weak. We look at the needy. And we receive them. And receiving them is receiving the creator God who needs nothing.
It's hard to get our minds around. But we see that Jesus wasn't just teaching humility — he was actively walking it out. He was doing it.
And this is what the disciples needed. They failed the test. They couldn't see just from the plain teaching that he needed to die and suffer and be raised again. They needed to experience it. They needed to experience it firsthand.
At the cross, they saw Jesus become the last of all, the servant of all, delivered into the hands of men. They saw him be killed and resurrected on the third day.
Application: Will You Fail the Test?
So what about you? Are you going to fail the test like the disciples did that day? Or are you going to learn from God's word and the examples that the disciples were for us — the example that God provided for us?
- Practice receiving rather than grasping for more.
- Practice resting in God's grace.
Does that sound weird to anyone — to practice resting? It is. And I know a lot of you, and I think it is hard. The idea of practicing resting, dwelling on God's grace.
Resting in God's goodness. Resting in God's grace. I think that's a challenge for a lot of us. Resting on God's day of rest — clearly a challenge for that man I was talking to. Resting in God's provision that is enough for you today.
And not just enough for you — but what if God brings someone into your life who has a need? Is God's provision enough for you to be generous and share? Is God's provision enough for you to care for a little child?
This is more than just head knowledge. And it's more than just desires. This is a childlike contentedness that allows us to receive Christ by receiving the overlooked neighbor, the uncared-for child, any of those who cannot repay, who have no status, who have no loveliness.
Invite someone into your home that cannot host you in return. This kind of one-way giving, one-way generosity.
Children — little guys — you get two pieces of candy and you see another little kid who didn't get any. Let's say you go to a parade. They're throwing out candy or t-shirts or whatever it is, and you grab something and you see the neighbor didn't get one. What do you do? You give it to them. Maybe.
You bigger kids — candy is not really the thing anymore. How about giving your kindness and friendliness to someone who isn't interesting or exciting? Someone who doesn't provide upward social mobility. It takes love and faith to be kind and to be generous with what God has given you.
Conclusion
But we are to learn to live in faith by seeing that Jesus became last of all. He became the servant of all. He was delivered into the hands of man. He was killed. On the third day, he rose again.
And only after the cross did they finally start to understand what God's kingdom is.
This is the foundation for the life of faith and how we receive Christ — by receiving those who cannot repay us, those with no status, no claim except need, by laying down our rights, our dreams, and desires for those around us.
We don't do this to earn our way. We do this because we've seen that Jesus has done it for us — and that in God's kingdom, greatness is not measured by prominence, but by self-sacrificing love. Not by how high we climb, but by how willing we are to lay down ourselves for the good of someone else.
This is our response to the kindness of God in Jesus Christ — that we would not seek to be first, but follow our Savior who came down from his throne, going all the way down to the grave, so that we might be raised with him.
Heavenly Father, help us. Help us to trust you. Help us to see that you went before us, that you go before us, that you provide for us. Not so that we can grow our own kingdom, not so we can establish our own righteousness, not so we can make ourselves right before you — but Father, out of the overflow of your provision to us, enable us, give us tender hearts to be generous, to lay down our lives for our wives and our children and our neighbors, and first and foremost for our love for you.
Father, we need help for this. We need faith and love for this. Fill us with your Holy Spirit, and Father, make us quick to respond to the work of the Holy Spirit in our life — that conviction of sin — for we are weak and we need you to treat us like children sometimes, teaching us that same story over and over and over again until we learn, and until we start to exercise faith and start to grow in it.
So Father, help us to rest in your grace, in your mercy, all for your glory. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.