I am currently reading through the Gospel of Matthew, and I wanted to pause a moment and reflect on a particular pericope. The passage is this:

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. 25. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 27. For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS. `Matthew 16.24-27

I simply want to reflect upon this passage (i.e. so this is not an exegetical analysis or anything; instead, this is an exercise in relational reading with a theological twist).

First of all it seems that Jesus is setting the bar rather high, isn’t He? If I were to read this passage in isolation from the rest of Scripture’s teaching—if I were stranded on a desert island with only this pericope—I might think that my only hope for salvation and being a disciple of Jesus would be that if I was somehow able to discern what in fact losing my life for Jesus’ sake meant; and then actually losing it. Thankfully I have the rest of the context, and just prior know that Jesus just spoke of His cross, and how necessary it is for Him to accomplish His purpose. I then know that as a follower of Jesus I can only do what he has called me to do because He has done it first and even for me. In fact in verse 23 Jesus scolds Peter for not achieving what in our passage He says that all of his disciples must do; Peter failed, as I am sure each of us fail; daily! I think Jesus is setting the bar so high, the one that He calls us to in our passage, the one that the Apostle Peter himself failed to meet in the verse prior, that He is pushing us further into Him and His cross; in a sense saying that our cross is nothing without His cross. That we could never carry our own cross; if we try, we will fail like the Apostle Peter, and the cross will become something to avoid instead of something to bear. So Jesus, when He calls us to take up our crosses is calling us back to His cross.

Maybe what I just said softens what Jesus is saying too much. Maybe what He is saying is that in fact we had better lose everything, take up our crosses, and follow Him. If we don’t do this, whatever “this” is, we will fail to be His disciples; we will fail to be one of His saved ones. Maybe Jesus is saying that my cross is a certain code of moral habits that I need to perform daily in order to be one of His disciples. Maybe I need to stiffen my upper lip, and recognize that Jesus’ teachings are Hard To Believe. That if I really want to be a genuine follower of Jesus, that I will grin and bear it; the cross that is!