DCLM Daily Manna December 23, 2025 – Misplaced Priority
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DCLM Daily Manna 23 December 2025: Misplaced Priority?
Introduction
This devotional explores the passage in Mark 9:30-37, focusing on the disciples’ failure to grasp Jesus’s teachings about His impending death and resurrection, and their preoccupation with worldly status.
Key Verse
For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day. But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him.
Scripture Reading: Mark 9:30-37 (KJV)
| Verse | Text |
|---|---|
| 30 | And they departed thence, and passed through Galilee; and he would not that any man should know it. |
| 31 | For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day. |
| 32 | But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him. |
| 33 | 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 | 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. |
Message: Misplaced Priority?
Many of Christ’s teachings were given in response to questions His disciples and others asked. It is proper and expected that people should ask for clarification when they do not fully understand an instruction or facts they receive. However, in today’s passage, the disciples of Christ were afraid to ask Jesus about a crucial matter they did not understand.
Jesus had been talking about His death and resurrection. However, the disciples couldn’t bring themselves to seek clarity. Instead, they were preoccupied with a far less important issue: determining who among them was the greatest. This reveals a misplaced priority
– focusing on self-importance rather than understanding the profound truth Jesus was revealing.
The Disciples’ Fear and Confusion
The disciples’ fear stemmed from their inability to reconcile Jesus’s prediction of suffering and death with their expectations of a Messiah who would deliver Israel from Roman oppression. The concept of a suffering Messiah was foreign and unsettling to them. Their confusion highlights the difficulty of accepting