Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Mark 9:34

"But they held their peace: for they had disputed one with another on the way, who [was] the greatest." — Mark 9:34 (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.