Charles Spurgeon Commentary Mark 9:33-34

"And they came to Capernaum: and when he was in the house he asked them, What were ye reasoning on the way? But they held their peace: for they had disputed one with another on the way, who [was] the greatest." — Mark 9:33-34 (ASV)

It was a dreadful descent from communing with Moses and Elias on the mount of transfiguration to meeting the furious demon at the foot of the hill; but this looks like a far greater descent, from the self-sacrifice of the Divine Master to the petty jealousies and self-seeking of his chosen servants.

Oh, sometimes, it makes our hearts sick — when we have been almost lost in rapturous meditation, when we have been taken up nearly to heaven in communion with the Lord, and then we have had to attend to some paltry squabble between two brothers or two sisters! It does seem such a terrible come-down. Yet, our Lord and Master does not disdain to come down in this way, for in tenderness he deals with these diseases of the sheep like a good shepherd.