Take Up Your Cross

“Take up your cross and follow Me,”

These are Jesus words from Mark 8:34. In preceding verses 31-33, Peter had just objected to the idea that Jesus would die. In verse 32, we are told that Peter rebuked Jesus. Jesus in turn rebuked Peter for objecting.

Then Jesus tells us what must happen if a man or woman wants to follow Him.

“He summoned the multitude to himself with his disciples, and said to them, whoever wants to come after me, let him deny himself and follow me” -Mark 8:34

“Come after” in Greek means “to come after to z point of being with” Him. Jesus is saying that someone who wants to follow Him must take up His cross. But what does that mean?

“Let them deny himself…

Jesus is saying the starting point is to deny ourselves. Again we should understand the Greek meaning “aparneomia.” This is a strong word meaning that a person must refuse to think about themselves. It paints a picture of complete denial of one’s desires and wishes.

Take up his cross…

Then Jesus said the person must take up their cross. In Jesus’s time, everyone understood the meaning of the word cross. The Roman soldier literally crucified two thousand people on crosses on one occasion. To carry your cross meant that you were dragging it along and eventually reached the place where the soldiers would crucify you. Therefore, Jesus’s point is that you must be so committed to denying yourself that you are willing to die for Him.

And follow Me.

Then Jesus added what must happen after a believer, takes up their cross, if a believer is truly willing to did for Jesus, he or she will follow Jesus. Luke 5:1-11 gives us an important illustration of following Jesus. On this occasion, the disciples had already been asked to follow Jesus two previous times. What happened on this occasion was so incredible that the disciples left everything and followed Him.

“When they brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him“ – Luke 5:11

They left everything and followed Him. This is an excellent example of Jesus’s command to “let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”

No one will truly follow Jesus who continues to be more interested in themselves than in Jesus. Jesus does not give us the option of calling Him our Savior and Lord while continuing to satisfy our desires and wishes. We must deny ourselves to the point of death in our following Him. This is the character of a true follower of Jesus Christ.

In Matthew 16:25 Jesus said losers are the spiritual winners.

“For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.”

All of Jesus’s disciples lost their lives because they chose to follow Him. Except for John who suffered greatly because of Jesus throughout his long life.

We will all die that’s a fact. The disciples died for Jesus. In 2 Timothy 3:12 tells us that everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Isaiah 41:10 says “So do not fear, for I am with you, do not be displayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

There’s a quote that I think most true believers believe,

“I’d rather stand with God and be judged by the world than stand with the world and be judged by God.”