Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Mark 9:33

"And they came to Capernaum: and when he was in the house he asked them, What were ye reasoning on the way?" — Mark 9:33 (ASV)

Jesus returned to Capernaum where his great Galilean ministry had begun (1:21) and where his headquarters in Galilee had been located. This time he did not linger there long, since his public ministry in the region had ended. He instructed his disciples privately, probably in the house belonging to Peter and Andrew (cf. 1:29).

The disciples must have been embarrassed and ashamed of their arguing among themselves about who was greatest because Jesus’ question about it elicited only silence. And well might they have been ashamed. Instead of contemplating Jesus’ passion and the suffering it would involve for both him and them, they had been occupied with self-centered arguments about greatness.