Friday, Insight - ODB

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Insight 

In the world of first-century Israel, opening one’s home to travelers was of great social importance. According to one rabbinic tradition, hospitality was greater than welcoming the shekinah, which signaled God’s glory or presence in His temple. The same culture, however, didn’t require men to open the doors of their hearts to members of their own community they considered beneath their dignity. They regarded servants, wives, and children as property and often treated them accordingly. As a result, Christ’s disciples had no natural understanding of a kingdom that would be led by a servant-king willing to die for His vision of a better world (Mark 9:30–32).
Jesus turned their views of His kingdom upside down by embracing and honoring a little child to illustrate a humility they’d not yet begun to understand. Then He expanded the implications of who we welcome into our hearts (v. 37).

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