Take it up and follow

Mark 8: 34-35 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it." (NIV)

Today the cross has become a symbol of faith. We wear it in our ears and around our necks. We hang it on our walls and it is embossed on our Bibles. For those who know and love Christ it has become a symbol of sacrificial love. It reminds us that it cost him everything.

To those Hebrew people hearing those words the first time Jesus spoke them though, those words must have been more than a little unsettling. The cross to them did not mean faith or love or anything like those ideals. The cross meant torture. The cross meant humiliation, and that in a very public manner. It was a horrifying death saved for the worst kind of criminals.

Jesus did not lighten his words in any way. No, he made it clear in the words that followed that he meant death. He wasn't just talking about denying myself sugar and meat for a few weeks. He was talking about putting to death my will, my desires in exchange for his. In our culture and our day this is still a radical idea. My generation grew up with the "If it feels good do it" and "Lookin' out for #1" mentality. Putting myself first is the norm, not dying to ones desires or will.

But there is reward in following his way, his will over our own. There is a promise. Not of feeling good, or of becoming rich, or gaining anything in this life. The reward is that he will not be ashamed of when he comes. That's not to say that other blessing won't also come. But in that last moment when the trumpet sounds and he appears, for those who "take up your cross" he will not be ashamed of you.

That leaves to reason, that he will be ashamed of those who do not listen to his call. I can't begin to imagine the depth of shame and disappointment for that one who knows Jesus, the One who gave all, even his life, who loved so completely, is now ashamed - of this one. I want to be sure I live in such a way that there is NO doubt about whether or not he will be pleased when I stand before him.