Private Lessons On Humility

Pastor Lee Atkinson indicates that Jesus, graciously, did not add to the public embarrassment of the disciples whose impotence over the dumb spirit had been apparently witnessed by a "multitude." He rather took the twelve aside to personally encourage them in a more intimate setting. In the process of encouraging them Jesus gently told them that they had been spiritually unprepared this time and had, perhaps, just assumed that past power was with them in the present. They had left Jesus out of their dispute about which of them should be the greatest, not realizing that our spiritual greatness is measured not by our status, but rather by how we respond to those who have no status.