Today’s passage is Mark 8:27-9:1. Jesus asks the disciples who people say he is. They say John, Elijah, a prophet. When he asks them who they say he is, Peter says the Christ.
When Jesus tells them what his life and death will be, Peter rebukes him and is in turn rebuked by Jesus. Jesus tells the crowd and his disciples that everyone must carry their cross and deny themselves in order to live.
Who do you think you are? What is your identity? What is your cross?
Who am I?
Jesus asks the key questions all of us ask when we reach the stage of self-awareness.
Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going? How long do I have?
Jesus is curious to see what others think of him.
The disciples say that others see him as religious figure.
They perceive him in a religious context.
When he asks the disciples, Peter says he is the Christ, the anointed one, the Messiah. Peter, too, identifies Jesus in a religious context, but more specifically than the crowds do.
Once he is identified, Jesus then answers the big questions.
He is here to suffer onto death, he is going to the cross, and he doesn’t have a lot of time.
Peter can’t accept this and chooses to see Jesus in a political context of the Messiah king of Israel and rebukes Jesus for who he is.
This, of course, earns him Jesus’ rebuke for being wickedly, willfully blind.
When he talks to the crowd and his disciples about their purpose in life, Jesus includes me.
My identity is a creature made in God’s image, a loyal follower of Jesus.
My purpose is to carry my cross and not be seduced by the world to any other purpose other than seeking God and his holiness.
I must become willing to give up my earthly, worldly life for the greater life in God.
There is nothing in this about chasing happiness or pleasure or money or status or worldly power.
My purpose and meaning are rooted in God.
The length of my life is in God’s hands. It is the least of my concerns.
A long earthly life devoid of God is short while one in God’s service is long.
Jesus’ answer to the questions I have asked myself since I was a teenager are blessedly short and clear.
They are also the ones I didn’t want to hear.
Like Peter, I wanted other answers that fitted with my clouded, selfish, excited view of endless possibilities for myself, which were to travel around the world, see everything, go everywhere, do everything, be admired, achieve great things.
It wasn’t until my late middle age that I discovered almost everyone I met had exactly the same idea!
Nobody seemed to have Jesus’ prescription for life.
What was even more distressing to my ego was that I couldn’t really choose Jesus’ prescription.
I had to be called by him to it.
I could accept or not accept his calling, but I couldn’t go do it myself.
When I did accept it, I opened myself to the greatest struggle in my life, far harder than going around the world and climbing mountains.
The beauty of it all, though, is that Jesus is always there to help, actually more than help, to carry me because I keep falling down.
Application: pray to live Jesus’ calling to my true life today.
Lord, help my carry my cross this day because I am weak and I stumble and I want to put it down.
