But they were silent; for on the way they had been arguing with one another which was the greatest.
fascinated by zero sums
my 1 cancels out your 1
and both lose
infinite zeros do not resolveeverything is war even love
for fair always tilts
toward the beholder
more than beauty foreverno more make it great again
for it always has been
its destiny eternally manifest
gaze upon this cedarn cover
It turns out that the argument chosen to avoid a transformation that would change the world was not about process but privilege.
O the irony!
The teaching is oriented toward Isaiah’s “suffering servant”. The learning is oriented to the persistence of the present as described by Waetjen158,
Jesus returns to Capernaum once more for a final visit. His work has come full circle. Here in this commercial center of Galilee he launched his ministry of teaching, liberation, and healing in order to fulfill his commission to establish God’s rule. His disciples, who have followed him in response to his proclamation of the imminence of God’s rule, have witnessed his extraordinary activity and struggled to determine who he is. Although they have been unsuccessful in identifying him, they have persisted in their hierarchical orientation. Dispossessed by the upper class, they remain captive to the prevailing mentality of their society. The socioeconomic pyramid, with its descending levels of power and privilege. is evidently considered to be natural.
Those who have been through Mark’s cycle before know there will be yet one more meeting between Jesus and the disciples in Galilee. Those who have carefully noted along the way how Mark works in triads could be prepared for a third meeting that will be different than the first two (which could be said to be a spinning of the wheels in the muck and mire of business as usual). Either way, that is another story for another time.
There is not only irony at work here, but aptness. The typicality of this argument is strong. In a situation that began with a call to change one’s life, we have here an example of the strength of status quo. The more we are called to be uncommon, the stronger we find the common to have attached itself to our self and we, once again, have become our parents.