Mark’s Gospel makes an important transition in this section. Jesus’ ministry is no longer about demonstrations of the kingdom of God around Galilee. It is now focused on the road to Jerusalem and the crucifixion. Jesus asks the disciples who they say he is. Peter answers for them with the correct answer but the wrong interpretation. “You are the Christ.” But when Jesus begins to tell them this means rejection, suffering, death and resurrection, Peter rebukes Jesus only to be rebuked in return. Jesus would not enter into glory without suffering first.

There is no crown without a cross.

This applies for Jesus’ followers as well as himself. He says, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (v. 34). In its essence, the Christian faith is a call to come and die. What is on offer is a new kind of life in place of the old. The Apostle Paul summarizes, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). This new kind of life is only found through a kind of death. “Such self-denial is on a different level altogether from giving up chocolate for Lent. It is not the denial of something to the self, but the denial of the self itself” (R.T. France, Mark, NIGTC, P. 340). This is a life-long process in which we are always offering ourselves to Jesus for transformation.

Taking It Home: Is there anything in your heart or life that is unfit for Jesus personally? Once you’ve identified it, begin “crucifying” it by renouncing it in prayer to the Lord and asking for his strength and power to be healed of that thing.