Lukas 9:46

46 Now an argument arose among his talmidim, as to who would be the greatest.

Lukas 9:46 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 9:46

Then there arose a reasoning among them
The Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions read, "a thought entered into them"; suggested very likely by Satan, which broke out into words, and issued in a warm dispute among them; and this was in the way, as they were travelling from Caesarea Philippi, to Capernaum; see ( Mark 9:33 ) .

Which of them should be greatest;
that is, "in the kingdom of heaven", as in ( Matthew 18:1 ) in the kingdom of the Messiah, which they expected would be a temporal one: wherefore the dispute was not about degrees in glory, nor in grace; nor who should be the greatest apostle and preacher of the Gospel; but who should be prime minister to the king Messiah, when he should set up his monarchy in all its grandeur and glory.

Lukas 9:46 In-Context

44 Let these divrei Hashem lodge in your ears: for the Ben HaAdam [Moshiach, DANIEL 7:13] is about to be delivered into the hands of Bnei Adam.

45 But they had no binah concerning this dvar of Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach, and it had been nistar from them in order that they might not have binah, and they were afraid to ask him about this dvar.

46 Now an argument arose among his talmidim, as to who would be the greatest.

47 And Moshiach, having perceived the machshavah of their levavot, took a yeled into his arms and stood the yeled next to him.

48 And Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach said to them, Whoever receives this yeled in ha-Shem of me [Moshiach], is mekabel (receiving, accepting) of me. And whoever is mekabel of me is mekabel of the One [Hashem] who sent me. For whoever is the least among all of you, this one is the Gadol.