In Matthew 16, when Jesus told his disciples that to follow him they would need to take up their cross . . . what would that have meant to them? How would they have understood his command? What would it have been calling them towards? I will post again soon about my thoughts on the subject, but would love to hear your input.
2 comments:
I think it's a move to redefine how His work was being seen. Switching the framework people had for what Jesus was about from get to give. God is so much in the world of giving to us, and we need His hand in all the moments of our life for reassurance and comfort, to hold us up. But I believe the passage is an effort to make sure we know that our getting isn't what God is most interested in interacting with us for, it's our giving. Our following. Exchanging our lordship for His.
I have always understood that to show that the Jews who he was preaching to needed to be prepared to sacrifice all in order to follow Jesus. The Jews would be willing to give up their own lives to the hated Romans in order to follow Jesus the Christ.
This would be the same as a preacher today preaching a message that in order to follow God we must be willing to stand before the firing squad for his sake.
Jesus did not say that this kind of sacrifice will necessarily happen, but at least one must be willing to make that sacrifice.
Post a Comment