Mark 8:31-38 (NRSV)
Read Mark 8:31-38 on biblegateway.com
Verse 31Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. Verse 32He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. Verse 33But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."
Verse 34He 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. Verse 35For 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. Verse 36For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Verse 37Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Verse 38Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."
Devotion
Like Peter the rock, we are made uncomfortable by Jesus'
call: "If any want to become my followers, let them deny
themselves and take up their cross and follow me." In a
world where the "self" has become, arguably, an idol of
our own making (witness the untold number of "selfies"
posted online every day in a quest for "likes"), this is a
radical call indeed.
But what if this life to which Jesus calls us—the life of
Christian discipleship—is actually the only life worth
living? What if losing our life for the sake of Christ and
our neighbor is to find our best life? What if taking up our
cross and following Jesus is the only way to become truly
human at last? Well, if that is true (and countless people
through the centuries have bet their lives on it), then may
God give us grace to follow Jesus—this Lenten season and
always—in the way of the cross.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, give us grace to follow you in the way of the
cross and to find in you our true life. Amen.