9:33-34 Jesus returned to Capernaum evidently after several months of absence. This was His last recorded activity there. Rather than discussing Jesus' coming death and resurrection the disciples had been arguing about their own futures in the kingdom. Their silence was probably a result of shame.
9:35 By seating Himself, Jesus assumed the traditional position of a rabbi. He taught them that greatness in His kingdom depends on sacrificial service. All three synoptic evangelists recorded His words indicating the importance of this lesson.
"The spirit of service is the passport to eminence in the Kingdom of God, for it is the spirit of the Master Who Himself became diakonos panton["servant of all"]."227
The Greek word for servant, diakonos, describes someone who serves willingly. It does not describe the servile status of such a person, which doulos(slave) suggests. The desire to excel need not be unspiritual (cf. 1 Tim. 3:1). However it must include willingness to put the welfare of others before selfish interests.228
9:36-37 A child was the least significant person in Jewish and in Greco-Roman culture.229By using a child as His object lesson, Jesus was saying that service involves caring about people, even insignificant people such as children.
"Jesus was one of the first ever to see how essentially precious any person is, particularly a young child. A concern for children was not invented by the welfare state: it goes back to the teaching of Jesus."230
Jesus proceeded to compare the humblest of His disciples to the child (cf. v. 42). This was the focus of Jesus' teaching that Matthew recorded (cf. Matt. 18:3-14).
