The Lord Jesus wanted would-be disciples to be under no illusion as to what following him involves.
“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34). Discipleship, by definition, must mean treading the same path as the Lord. It involves self-denial, the death of that urge which is in the heart of every one of us to give precedence to our own safety and well-being over everything else. Furthermore, the disciple must ‘take up a cross’ and follow their Lord.
Bearing Your Cross
Nowadays, people speak of ‘bearing a cross’ when they mean dealing with an arduous task which imposes itself upon them. But when Jesus spoke about bearing a cross, the expression was no metaphor for life’s little difficulties. A cross was an instrument of torture, devised by the Romans for executing criminals and rebels. It served as a grim warning to other would-be rebels. And Jesus speaks of carrying a cross both as his own destiny and as the mark of a disciple.
He did not mean that people could qualify as his followers only if they were crucified in a literal sense, although that (or something similar) has indeed been the fate of countless thousands of his followers. The parallel passage in Luke’s gospel says, “let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). The emphasis in his words is upon carrying the cross, not being fastened to it, and this introduces another way of looking at the expression. His first disciples may have witnessed criminals being led to the place of execution, carrying their own cross and being made to walk through the streets as a public example. If such a malefactor had committed an offence that caused public revulsion, the crowds would line the streets to taunt him and shout abuse at him.
This gruesome image shows the depth of Jesus’ teaching. Disciples who really follow his teaching may find themselves at odds with the society where they live. He calls upon them to live in a way that runs so counter to the values of the society around them that they are prepared to face abuse, taunts and derision from those who may despise them for their allegiance to him.
A criminal had no choice but to make the journey to the end. In contrast, a disciple is free to put down the cross, to opt out, to walk away. Jesus does not compel. He wants only disciples who choose to carry their cross to the completion of the journey, who “endure to the end” (Matthew 10:22).
Losing Your Life
And then he adds paradoxically: “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it” (Mark 8:35). Two meanings are conveyed by the word ‘life’ here. There is this mortal life which is endowed with the instinct to hold on to it and to preserve it at all costs, even though it is very short. And there is eternal life which will be found on the other side of the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:50–55), and that will be a sharing in the life of God Himself. We gain the one only by renouncing the other.
The disciple who loses their life, either in martyrdom, or by devoting their life to the total service of their Lord, will indeed die, but beyond the end of this mortal life they will be raised to life that will last for ever.
Many people have bravely put themselves in danger of death, such as soldiers on the battlefield—people who willingly die for what they believe to be a cause more valuable than their own lives. But such self sacrifice will not benefit those who makes it if it is not, as Jesus says, “for my sake”. In these three critical words lies its extra significance. Those who lose their lives for any other cause but the one he calls us to—will never “find” it again.
“For what does it profit a man,” the Lord continues, “to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul?” (Mark 8:36–37). No amount of wealth or power or prestige can equal the value of one life.
Jesus saved his life by choosing the path that led initially to death. And having died at the hands of men, he was raised to eternal life by God and given “all authority… in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28:18). That is the pattern that he lived, and it is the pattern that he calls upon his disciples to follow.
PAUL WASSON