32
They didn't know what he was talking about, but were afraid to ask him about it.
33
They came to Capernaum. When he was safe at home, he asked them, "What were you discussing on the road?"
34
The silence was deafening - they had been arguing with one another over who among them was greatest.
35
He sat down and summoned the Twelve. "So you want first place? Then take the last place. Be the servant of all."
36
He put a child in the middle of the room. Then, cradling the little one in his arms, he said,
37
"Whoever embraces one of these children as I do embraces me, and far more than me - God who sent me."
38
John spoke up, "Teacher, we saw a man using your name to expel demons and we stopped him because he wasn't in our group."
39
Jesus wasn't pleased. "Don't stop him. No one can use my name to do something good and powerful, and in the next breath cut me down.
40
If he's not an enemy, he's an ally.
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Why, anyone by just giving you a cup of water in my name is on our side. Count on it that God will notice.
42
"On the other hand, if you give one of these simple, childlike believers a hard time, bullying or taking advantage of their simple trust, you'll soon wish you hadn't. You'd be better off dropped in the middle of the lake with a millstone around your neck.