Mark 8:27-38
He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. --Mark 8:34-35
Again in this text today, Jesus asks "Who do you say that I am?" and when the answer is "You are the Messiah," he says... "Shhhh, Don't tell anyone!" Next, he says in a very public way so all can hear exactly what will be happening to him. The suffering, the rejection, the killing, the rising again. Peter rejects this idea and it upsets Jesus so much that he says "Get behind me, Satan," to Peter.
Then Jesus says to the disciples that they, too, must be willing to pick up their crosses and follow him. That those who want to save their lives will need to lose it. What does that mean?
He expresses humility at the idea of being the Savior, but then expresses publicly the ways he will be shamed.
It's all a very complex idea, this Jesus-going-to-the-cross business. And the idea of being quiet about his Messiahship, but very public about being willing to carry our own crosses.
I am wondering if humility has a definition in here somewhere. Is Jesus telling us that our willingness to lower ourselves to carrying a cross, a difficult and hard journey, is the way we find humility? After all, a Messiah was a position to be lauded and honored, but a criminal's death on a cross was quite the opposite.
Where do we find our own sense of following Jesus in this scripture? Email me at peverhart@niwotumc.org or comment below.
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