Mark 8
v.17
Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened?
v.18
Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember?
v.19
When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?” “Twelve,” they replied.
v.29
“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.
v.31
He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.
v.33
But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
v.34
Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
As the happiness of heaven with Christ, is enough to make up for the loss of life itself for him, so the gain of all the world in sin, will not make up for the ruin of the soul by sin. And there is a day coming, when the cause of Christ will appear as glorious, as some now think it mean and contemptible. May we think of that season, and view every earthly object as we shall do at that great day.
The very meaning of discipleship centers on the absence of self and the centrality of Christ in every area of life. However, we must separate the denial of self from self-denial. The latter involves refusing certain aspects of life, an ascetic bent that rejects certain experiences and pleasures in life. That can be important, but what Christ was talking about in 8:34 is the ascendancy of self over him. The worship of self is basic idolatry, and Jesus demands to be in absolute control of our lives. He is not just to have first place in our hearts; he is to have the only place in our hearts. We must sacrifice all for him.
v.35
For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.
v.36
What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?
v.37
Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?
v.38
If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”