Day 31: You Can’t Hide Pride

They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” But they were silent, because on the way they had been arguing with one another about who was the greatest. Mark 9:33–34

“But they were silent.” That phrase tickles me so much because I can totally picture that motley crew of grown men clamming up the way Missy sometimes does when she knows she’s done something wrong and might face discipline for her bad choice. Which happened recently when she discovered how to use my Amazon account to download movies to her iPad (now in my sweet child’s defense, this was in the first month of the COVID-19 pandemic when it was too cold to play outside and we were all feeling a bit stir-crazy up here on Missy’s Mountain).

Me (when I walked upstairs to the TV room and found her sprawled out on the couch watching Trolls World Tour when she was supposed to be working on her math homework):

Missy, why are you watching a movie instead of doing your homework? And wait a minute, isn’t that the brand-new Trolls movie we saw on Amazon last night that cost $20 to download? Did you use my Amazon account to access this movie, Honey?

Missy (looking directly at me with wide eyes and feigning innocence): Hmmm?

Me (head now tilted a few degrees to one side and emphasizing each syllable of the question with a noticeably lower voice): Did. You. Use. My. Amazon. Account. To. Download. This. Movie. Melissa?

Missy (now feigning interest in whatever was behind my head):

Crickets. Nada. Nothing. Suddenly the proverbial cat had shoplifted my normally chatty daughter’s tongue and she had NO WORDS!

Honestly, I don’t know why I even bothered to ask. Because unless we’d been invaded by aliens, Missy and I are the only folks with opposable thumbs who have access to my laptop during this quarantine season and unless somebody whacks me upside the head, I’m not inclined to pay twenty bucks for a movie about miniature blue people with super-annoying voices.

My smart little cookie of a daughter had gone and cracked my passcode to deceitfully download a new flick about her beloved Poppy and surely thought UH OH! when she heard me clomping up the stairs. It was all I could do to maintain my composure and not chuckle because watching her try to plead the fifth was actually pretty darn cute!

Don’t you wish we could see the expression on Jesus’ face as He watched His disciples become mute, feign innocence, and pretend to be interested in whatever was behind His holy head in this biblical scene? I can’t wait to get to heaven and find out if my hunch is accurate because I’m convinced our Savior is a serial grinner! And His good nature is implied by the way He doesn’t rebuke them for their childish behavior but instead gently scoops up a nearby toddler to use as a living metaphor in a patient attempt to get His followers to—as we would say here in the South—act right!

He sat down, called the twelve disciples over to him, and said, “Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.” Then he put a little child among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, “Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes not only me but also my Father who sent me.” (Mark 9:35–37 nlt)

My guess is those burly men softened while watching their Lord and Savior affectionately cuddle a kid. Surely their defensive walls came tumbling down when He made eye contact with them while that peanut pulled on His beard, then winked before gently reminding them that it wasn’t cool to elbow others out of the way in your quest to get to the front of the line.

• Who do you usually try to be “greater than” in your life? Why?
• When’s the last time you sensed God’s Spirit gently chiding you for being too self-centered, or trying to get ahead of others for the spotlight?
• Did you feign innocence initially? Or did you confess your culpability right away?