Value and Belonging

This is the first of a sermon series on texts from the Gospel of Mark. The conversation Jesus has with the disciples in Mark 9 is a reorientation of values as he puts before them a child, the lowest of the low in society at that time, and tells them that to welcome a child is to welcome him. But then one of the disciples, John, complains that there’s someone doing good deeds in Jesus’ name without being one of Jesus’ followers and says they tried to stop him. In response, Jesus, in surprisingly stern language, condemns that distinction about belonging and not belonging. How does his intensity about this inform our own behavior?