Have you ever heard someone refer to a minor inconvenience by saying “That’s just my cross to carry” or “We all have our own crosses to bear”? When one uses this phrase, it is typically expressed that they must endure a temptation, burden, trait, or inconvenience. However, Jesus’s command for a follower to “deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me” is not one that simply expresses the necessity of suffering or inconvenience in the life of a Christian. It is a command that expresses the required mentality of a Christian.
Jesus’s words in Mark 8:34–35 establish the expectations of all who follow him: deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow. Jesus makes clear that this command is not just for the disciples by summoning the whole crowd to himself (8:34a). Jesus’s commands are entirely about changing the center of gravity in one’s life from oneself to God. For one to “deny himself,” one must not simply deny desires or temptations but deny self. There is an element of “disowning” or “renouncing” in this word like how we see Peter deny Jesus (Luke 22:54–62). It involves a disassociation with self. Therefore, Jesus’s command is for one to shift primary focus from self by “denying” or “disowning” self. Jesus does not say that the self is bad, but that the self should not be where allegiance lies.
When one adopts this mentality, it should lead to a willingness to “take up his cross and follow Me.” But did Jesus really intend for each of his people to die on the cross? Of course not. Jesus commands this before dying on the cross, meaning that his listeners were not thinking about Jesus’s own crucifixion (though we can have a fuller picture because we are on the other side of Christ’s death and resurrection) but rather the sentiment he was expressing. The crucifixion was a public display for all. It showed what happens to those who rebel against authority: they are forced to submit to it in death. Jesus refers to the process of picking up the cross beam after being humiliated and scourged to trudge to the place of execution. However, this act of carrying one’s cross is not because of a rebellion to authority. It is because of one’s complete submission to God’s authority.
It would be a partial truth to think that Jesus’s words were only about denying temptations and bearing worldly burdens. The idea conveyed by Jesus in Mark 8:34–35 is that a follower of Christ must change allegiance from self to God; a full shift in the center of gravity of one’s life. As a result of that shift, one must fully submit to Jesus’s call to discipleship. The expectations are extreme for one who follows, but the one we follow is worth any cost of discipleship.
Nate Kidwell
Dalraida church of Christ is a congregation of Christians that meet in the mid-town area of Montgomery, Alabama. Our goal and purpose is to seek and follow God and His Word in everything that we do in life.