31He 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. 32He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” 34Then 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. 35For whoever wants to save his life[c] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? 37Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 38If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”–Mark 8: 31-38
The disciples were having the greatest time of their lives with Jesus – – – they were constantly traveling to new places, moving from one town to another in support of Jesus’ ministry – – – they were gaining public recognition as those who moved alongside the Great Teacher, Preacher and Miracle worker. There was certainly a heightened level of passion and enthusiasm that they can actually change the world and be persons of purpose and destiny. And so in the midst of this spiritual high – – – just when everything was the way they wanted things to be, they hear the most unsettling and the most disturbing news: that Jesus was going to suffer; he was going to be rejected and that he was going to die. It was absurd and unthinkable. In the eyes of the disciples, Jesus was invincible. He was full of authority, wisdom and anointing of the Holy Spirit. He was impacting lives in ways the disciples had never ever seen before. In short, Jesus gave them a sense of significance and worth. They felt useful. They were seeing things clearly like never before. How, then, could everything just end?
We can all relate with that. We like to hold on. We like to cling. We hold fast to situations, circumstances and even people who serve our interests. We like to be comfortable. We want convenience. In short, like the disciples, we always want to be in control.
Peter, as always, became the most vocal of the disciples. He rebuked Jesus for speaking of such morbid things – – – things he did not want to hear and things he was not ready to process and internalize. But instead of being intimidated by Peter, Jesus turns to him and stops him, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not on the side of God but of man.” (Mark 8:33) We could only imagine how stunned Peter and the rest of the disciples were. In that defining moment – – – in that God-appointed time, Jesus asserted his spiritual authority and made a reality check: “Are you on the side of God or not?” Hmmm…. And what kind of a question was that? Some of the disciples may have said in their hearts, “I am your follower, Jesus. I left my family for you. I am doing so much work for your kingdom… of course I am on the side of God!… ” But were they? Were the people who called themselves to be followers of Jesus really on the side of God? . . . and what is the side of God, anyway? Certainly, at this point, Jesus was revealing a very powerful and very profound spiritual principle to his disciples – – – that being on the side of God is not just a matter of having the right religious titles or hanging around the right religious personalities. Just like the disciples themselves, even those who think they are in the inner circle of Jesus like Peter may actually end up the most clueless and dense in the things of God. Why?
In the succeeding verses, we hear Jesus teaching his disciples about taking up their cross, following Jesus sincerely, losing their lives willingly for God and saving it in the process. 34-37 “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat; I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade your soul for? (The Message). It ‘s amazing how the Lord sees clearly through the layers and complexities of our hearts. Without even saying a word, the Lord just knows every hidden agenda and every secret motive within us. As for the hearts of his disciples, it was crystal clear to Jesus that when all was stripped away, everything still boiled down to selfish agenda, personal gain and vain conceit. Friends, this is the reality of sinful nature – – – the natural inclination of every heart to fight and resist God.
I read about Arabian horses who go through very rigid training in the deserts of the Middle East. In order to instill obedience upon the animals, they are subject to different levels of training. The final test is the most intense. The trainer forces the horses do without water for days. He then turns the horses lose toward the water but just as they get very near, ready to take a plunge, the trainer blows his whistle. The animals who have been completely trained would stop, turn around and go back to the trainer. They stand there quivering, wanting water, but they wait in perfect obedience for their master. Animal rights activists would certainly not agree to these kinds of rigorous, trainings, but the point is clear – – – learning to deny ourselves and giving way to God’s plans and intentions for us takes constant training – – – sheer strength and great effort. We don’t have to think very complicated. Imagine the sheer strength we exert by choosing to tame our tongue when we are at the height of anger; or to release genuine compassion and forgiveness to those who have offended us; to stay spiritually focused when our family is going through a crisis. Imagine the effort that we need to exert when there is injustice, when we are wronged or betrayed, or even the effort we need to just get by the day when we are at the lowest point of our lives. Weeks and days were passing quickly for Jesus. He knew in his heart that it was just a matter of time. He would be brutalized – – – he would be tortured – – – he would be shamed and humiliated – – – he would be paying dearly for sins he never committed – – – he would be embracing in full the cost of human redemption alone – – – with his own body and with his own blood. 35For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?
In this season of Lent, the Holy Spirit is inviting us once more to quiet our ever-busy and ever-distracted hearts so that we can fully understand the unique mathematics in the God’s kingdom: – – – we gain by losing – — we lose by gaining. This is the very message the Jesus Christ embodied in his life and ministry. We lose the real essence of life when we are consumed by our selfish interests – – – when hold back and refuse to let go and let God have his way. We gain the real and purpose meaning life by giving ourselves fully and wholeheartedly to the Lord in humble faith and obedience to his pleasing and perfect will. This is not easy to do. But once this is done, the powers of sin and death are destroyed – – – and the blessings of life and hope burst forth and are ushered to many! Amen.
