Mark 9:16 (LSB)

Passage

And He asked them, “What are you arguing with them?”

Nearby Context

Mark 9:14 And when they came back to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them.

Mark 9:15 And immediately, when the entire crowd saw Him, they were amazed. And as they ran up, they were greeting Him.

Mark 9:16 And He asked them, “What are you arguing with them?”

Mark 9:17 And one of the crowd answered Him, “Teacher, I brought You my son, possessed with a spirit which makes him mute;

Mark 9:18 and whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground and he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. I told Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not do it.”

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "asked" and "arguing". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "asked" and "arguing", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 15's "And immediately when the entire crowd saw..." into verse 17's "And one of the crowd answered Him...", so "asked" and "arguing" belong inside that flow. In Mark context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "asked" and "arguing" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.