THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP

Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for Me and for the gospel will save it.”  (Mark 8:34b-35 NIV)

As evidence that cross-bearing must become the true disciple’s way, Jesus offers His listeners the paradox of Mark 8:35. The “life” saved or lost is the Greek “psyche,” which includes a threefold dimension: “life,” “soul,” and “oneself.” Clearly, all three meanings are intended by Jesus’ declaration. The blatant expression of physical cost had already been highlighted by references to suffering and the focus on the cross, a device of physical torture. But here there is an additional sense of “life” as well.  A sense of individual identity, of “oneself” and the unique “soul” that animates every living person, is part of the natural desire of self-preservation that Jesus turns topsy-turvy with His words. Jesus’ rhetorical question, “What can they give in return for their life?” (Mark 8:37) leads His listeners to the conclusion that only “life itself” can be offered as an adequate response to the gift of life. For both the disciples and the crowds who had up to this point been enjoying a journey of triumph and miracles, Jesus’ new message was both sobering and hard to swallow.

Today the cost of discipleship is still sobering and hard to swallow... The final comment offered by Jesus, “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulteress and sinful generation, of Him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father and the holy angels,” (Mark 8:38) reminds His listeners, and us, that whatever choice we make, for Jesus or against Him, there will be eternal consequences. 

-- Leonard Sweet in “A Cup of Coffee at the SoulCafe”

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