Last night we concluded our first hosting of the Christianity Explored Course. Our evening’s topic was “What does it mean to follow Jesus?” The key scriptural reference was Jesus’ call to discipleship in Mark 8:
And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
I have been a Christian for more than three decades; as a church we have gone through the gospel of Mark, and our current series on Godly imitation, recognizing the demand of discipleship that the Lord places upon his children. Yet, I still feel I have so much to learn, and so many areas that require self-denial! What does denying ourselves mean and what does it look like?
It is interesting how this story flows in Mark. This call to discipleship follows the exchange between Peter and Jesus where Peter moves from the front of the class to the bottom in four verses! Peter first correctly identified Jesus as “the Christ”, the longed for Messiah! In Matthew’s account Jesus even calls Peter blessed for such knowledge. He then turns around and denies Jesus his necessary mission – Peter cannot fathom how the Messiah must suffer and die. Suffering and death were not part of Peter’s Messiah agenda, and Jesus rebukes him in the strongest of terms. Why was Jesus so protective of his mission? Simply put, a wrong view of Messiahship leads to a wrong view of discipleship. And lest we think this exhortation is reserved for the early church leaders, Mark makes a point of Jesus addressing not just his disciples but the crowd. This call to radical discipleship is not reserved for the apostles – it is for all who “would come after me.”
So, what does it mean to deny ourselves? Unfortunately, the weight of this command has been somewhat lost in translation in our times. We think we are denying ourselves when we give up chocolate for lent! We must resist the temptation to domesticate the call to self-denial and cross bearing to the fasting of Facebook or even the enduring of trials patiently. The context is Jesus’ teaching of his own impending death; and we are to follow him, losing our lives in order to find them. The word we translate “deny” is the same word associated with Peter’s denial of Jesus. It means to dissociate oneself completely; to sever relationship (see Mark 14:30). Therefore, what Jesus is calling us to is a radical abandonment of our self made identity such that we may follow him. As one theologian put it, Jesus is not speaking of denying something to the self, but the denying of the self itself. He then gives us four good reasons, just in case dying to self is not compelling enough:
1) We will find true life
2) We will save our life
3) We will have the infinite worth of our soul, more valuable than the gain of the “whole world”, and finally
4) He will not be ashamed of us before the glory of the Father.
May I encourage you to trust the throne of your life to Jesus? To today deny a little bit more of your autonomy, in a little bit more submission to Christ? He is ever faithful, the author and perfector of your faith.
Much love,
Pastor Gary