He
called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves
and take up their cross and follow me. Mark 8:34 (NRSV)
This verse contains three conditions
of becoming a disciple or follower of Jesus.
1. Follow Voluntarily
If you “want” to be his follower…that
is a condition – it is your decision; Jesus will not load you up on the next
Gospel bus. Each account of Jesus
calling someone to follow indicated an offer, never a command.
Following voluntarily presupposes
that the opposite is also a possibility – that some choose to not
follow. Those who choose so
are called “the lost”. The rich young
ruler went away from Jesus and the supposition is that he was lost. Judas began to follow, but was lost. Following or not following is a personal
decision. This is the “entry-level” of
Christianity.
For those who choose voluntarily to
follow, there is a second condition:
2. Follow Empty-Handed
Jesus was probably speaking to almost
exclusively a Jewish crowd. They would
have heard and understood Jesus to be talking about the process of
proselytizing, or becoming a convert to Judaism. When a Gentile wanted to convert to Judaism
he had to renounce all his previous beliefs and separate himself from past
friendships and acquaintances, even family.
He had to promise to never turn back.
He was then considered “newborn,” a person of new life.
Jesus was demanding that we “trash” our
old
thinking
and just follow him like our Gospel song, nothing in my hand I bring; simply to thy
cross I cling.
3. Follow as HE Leads
Have you ever danced with
someone? Now, I’m not talking about the
kind of group dancing that is popular in clubs; we’re talking ballroom
stuff. In the groups, everyone does his
own thing; in ballroom forms there is a lead and the partner follows.
This is the kind of relationship we
have with Jesus.
Here’s
Jesus’ lead – take up your cross.
The disciples knew what Jesus was saying. Twenty years before there was a rebellion against
Roman authority in a little town called Sephoris. It was only 9 miles from where Jesus
lived. A man named Varus, a farmer of
Galilee, organized the farmers of the area into a rebellion army. They attacked and killed all the Roman
soldiers of the garrison at Sephoris.
Rome sent in the armies, and scattered the armies of Varus, about 10,000
men. Most of them went back to
farming. But the Romans captured about
2,000 of them. The historian, Josephus,
records that they were going to teach the rebels of Galilee a lesson not to be
rebels. They took them, one by one,
along the road out of Sephoris, and crucified them. They would put one on a cross, and then walk
down the road until almost out of sight, and then crucify another.
They went in every direction out of Sephoris, all over Galilee, until
they had 2,000 rebels on 2000 crosses.
As you walked the roads of Galilee you were never out of sight of a
crucified rebel.
None were allowed to be taken down; they were to rot there on the
crosses. If anyone took one down,
another Galilean citizen would take his place.
Jesus was 10 years old when this happened. He knew what he was saying about taking up a
cross.
Jesus is not interested in leaders; He needs disciples who will give up
their lives. Are you willing? Are you really willing to step up and offer
your life in exchange for His? Following
a God like that is a big decision!
There is a story about the artist Rodin, who one day saw a huge carved
crucifix beside a road. He immediately
loved the artwork and insisted on having it for himself. He purchased the cross and arranged to have
it carted back to his house. But,
unfortunately, it was too big for the size of the house. So, of all things, he knocked out the walls,
raised the roof, and rebuilt his home around the cross.[1]
How big is YOUR God?
If your God is not big enough to place first, before
everything you know, and have him re-design your life, He’s not the God of
Scripture.
Is YOUR God big enough to re-design your home, your
family, and how you spend your days?
That’s’ what it looks like when you walk under ashes.
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