Lesson 3: Following Jesus Together

Jesus taught us, "If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me and the gospel will save it" (Mark 8:34-35). But how does taking up a cross lead to life?

At the center of the Christian message is the death and resurrection of Jesus. Yet even as we celebrate the good news that Jesus died for our sins, and rose again to eternal life, it can be confusing to understand how we could experience true life through something as shameful and torturous as crucifixion.

Why does Jesus want us to take up a cross to follow him?

To understand how Jesus' call to deny ourselves and take up our cross leads to true, abundant life rather than death.

As the True Story from which all other stories find their strength, another way of narrating the storyline of the Bible is life-life-death-life-death-life-death-life-life. I put it in this terse way to emphasize how the Scriptures build dramatic tension as it repeatedly addresses our ultimate questions. That said, let me unpack this cryptic way of putting it!

The Bible starts with the God of Life breathing life into all Creation—and into his image bearers. Then we turn away from God, and experience death—the death of sin and the start of our mortality.

Then the author of Life starts a surprising second Act - as the Gospel of John reveals, "In him was life, and that life was the light of men" (John 1:4). Yet he came, as the Bread of Life (John 6:48), to lay down his life for us (John 10:15), and to take his life back up again (John 10:17).

When we come to know Jesus, we die to our old selves and experience new life. As Paul explains in Romans 6:4, "Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life."

Yet though we are already living in the newness of life, one day we will know life to the fullest. As 1 John 5:11 promises us, "And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son."

To summarize: The Bible starts with the God of life giving us his life. We turn away from the God of life and experience death. The crisis of separation from God and inevitable death is met with God's promises to restore us. These promises find their fulfillment in the life of Jesus, which is halted by his death on the cross, and then continues in his resurrection life. As a gift of grace, Jesus gives us his life, which we now enjoy, and will enjoy forever.

At one level, then, the paradox is no paradox at all: though we were dead in our sins, God is offering us life in the Spirit!

But let's take a closer look at how Jesus frames his invitation in Mark 8:31-9:1:

Then he began to teach them that it was necessary for the Son of Man to suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and rise after three days. He spoke openly about this. > > Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning around and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! You are not thinking about God's concerns but human concerns." > > Calling the crowd along with his disciples, he said to them, "If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me and the gospel will save it. > > For what does it benefit someone to gain the whole world and yet lose his life? What can anyone give in exchange for his life? For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels." > > Then he said to them, "Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God come in power."

While it's easy to look down on Peter, I have to admit that his perspective makes sense. Who would want Jesus to suffer, be rejected, and be killed? And before his resurrection, what sense would it have made that he said he would rise again?

Yet Jesus says that Peter is sharing the perspective of Satan! Then he doubles down to explain that not only must he suffer and die, but that anyone who wants to follow him must be willing to do the same!

So what does it mean to deny ourselves and follow Jesus?

It's a hard question to address because we have to pass through so many layers of confusion, deception, and manipulation. In the wrong hands, the call to deny ourselves can be leveraged by Christian leaders who wish to benefit themselves at our expense. The congregants are to give extravagantly; the leaders get a raise. The followers are to obey; the leader is in charge. And the church members are to give more; the pastor should take it easy.

So, we must underline the significance of Jesus' example: first, he suffered and died for us. If anyone is asking you to deny yourself for Christ, it is important, good, and wise to see if you can evaluate: have they denied themselves for your benefit? Or do they live at such a distance that you cannot tell? Whatever this verse means, it applies to every disciple of Jesus. But because the commitment is so high, we must remain extremely vigilant, and watch out for those who see an opportunity to manipulate us.

James Brooks addresses the central challenge with unflinching honesty:

To deny oneself is not to do without something or even many things. It is not asceticism, not self-rejection or self-hatred, nor is it even the disowning of particular sins. It is to renounce the self as the dominant element in life. It is to replace the self with God-in-Christ as the object of affections. It is to place the divine will before self-will (New American Commentary on Mark).

Or, as the Expositor's Bible Commentary on Mark explains, "To bear the cross, therefore, meant to follow Jesus, even to the point of humiliation, extreme suffering, and death."

I am tempted to think this is a bit overdramatic. Yet, as we see in Acts 7, Stephen is stoned to death for testifying to the resurrection of Jesus. As F.F. Bruce notes, his final words "are reminiscent of Jesus' final utterance from the cross in Luke's passion narrative" (NICNT, Acts). As the early church reflected on the meaning of discipleship, they presented an actual martyr as an example worthy of our honor and imitation.

A modern martyr, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, explained the centrality of the cross in The Cost of Discipleship:

The cross is laid on every Christian. The first Christ-suffering which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world. It is that dying of the old man which is the result of his encounter with Christ. As we embark upon discipleship we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with his death – we give over our lives to death. > > Thus it begins; the cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise god-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. It may be a death like that of the first disciples who had to leave home and work to follow him, or it may be a death like Luther's, who had to leave the monastery and go out into the world. > > But it is the same death every time – death in Jesus Christ, the death of the old man at his call. Jesus' summons to the rich young man was calling him to die, because only the man who is dead to his own will can follow Christ. In fact every command of Jesus is a call to die, with all our affections and lusts. > > But we do not want to die, and therefore Jesus Christ and his call are necessarily our death as well as our life. The call to discipleship, the baptism in the name of Jesus Christ means both death and life. The call of Christ, his baptism, sets the Christian in the middle of the daily arena against sin and the devil. Every day he encounters new temptations, and every day he must suffer anew for Jesus Christ's sake. > > ... > > If we refuse to take up our cross and submit to suffering and rejection at the hands of men, we forfeit our fellowship with Christ and have ceased to follow him. But if we lose our lives in his service and carry our cross, we shall find our lives again in the fellowship of the cross with Christ. The opposite of discipleship is to be ashamed of Christ and his cross and all the offence which the cross brings in its train.

Bonhoeffer straightforwardly insists that we face this paradox! We must choose if we will attempt to save our lives and lose them; or lose our lives, and find them in Christ.

To put it another way: will your life be dominated by selfishness, or will you rely on God to gain the wisdom, humility, gratitude, and courage that's necessary to live a life filled with love for God and your neighbor?

God, my soul is troubled. What should I say—Father, save me from suffering and death? But you have made me for yourself. Work within me, that I might have fellowship with you. Father, glorify your name.