By Eddie Lombard
34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.
Mark 8:34-35
Jesus had just finished predicting His death. He would be rejected by all, mocked and killed. Peter wanted none of that and Jesus had to speak strong words to him, reminding everyone that His way had to be the way of the Cross, for that is why He came. To the Jew it was weakness, and to the Gentile foolishness, but to God it was the power of salvation for the world.
It was with this in mind that Jesus turned to His disciples and spoke those momentous words: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me”. Once again, we have the imperative must. Jesus must suffer and die v 31, so also the followers of Jesus must deny themselves, pick up their cross and follow Him. Jesus’ kingdom was not of this world. He gave up everything for His kingdom and His people and so His followers must be willing to do the same.
“Deny himself” speaks to the heart of man’s problem of sin. We see in Peter a good example of this. In Mark 8:33 he is rebuking Jesus because he had his own idea of what Jesus must do. Peter had in mind “the things of man and not the things of God”. Sin is when we have ourselves and our own ideas at the centre and not God. Jesus demanded His followers to put Him first and not themselves.
“To pick up his cross” was again shocking to His disciples. He makes it crystal clear that following Him will not mean greatness in this world but suffering.
Jesus made a radical call on His followers: If you want to follow Me you must be willing to “lose” your own plans for your lives and if it comes to it, lose you lives for Me and My gospel.
Prayer points:
• Pray that God will help us see the cost of following Jesus
• Pray that in God’s grace He will give us the strength to follow Jesus