This article is part of the Tough Passages series.
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34And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. —Mark 8:34-35
Surrender Self-Sufficiency
Jesus exhorts his disciples to surrender self-sufficiency and self-reliance so that they might be able to serve him and bear fruit. As with the call of Elisha (1 Kings 19:19–21), they must realize that the cost of discipleship means letting go of self-reliance in order to follow their master and his purposes. In the broader context of redemptive history, the call to radical discipleship reverses the pervasive hostility against God ever since the fall of mankind. The renewed ability to walk with God represents the original design for human beings, affecting self-awareness, relationships with others, and other aspects of life and society.
Mark 8:34 Subsequent to the first major prediction of the Messiah’s death and resurrection, Jesus issues discipleship instructions to everyone who would follow him. Contrast this with the more narrow call extended in Mark 1:17. The aim of the call to “deny” yourself (cf. Mark 14:30, 31, 72) and “take up” one’s “cross” has nothing to do with unhealthy self-accusation, self-abasement, self-hatred, loss of personality, or nurture of a martyrdom complex. Rather, through surrender of—and death to—self-determination and self-reliance, one becomes free from any detracting, fallen, or sinful affection, idol, or loyalty in order to “follow” Jesus’s kingdom rule in an ongoing and maturing way.
Noteworthy are the two durative present tenses at the beginning and end of the verse: thelei opisō mou akolouthein (“he/she wants to keep following behind me”) and akoloutheitō (“he/she must keep following me”). The motif of the call to “follow” (akoloutheō) Jesus arises frequently in Mark.1 Such a follower belongs to the Messiah wholeheartedly and persistently (Mark 1:18; 2:15).2 This notion echoes the calling of walking with God in the OT,3 which expresses itself in undivided loyalty and obedience (e.g., Ruth 1:16–17; 2 Sam. 15:21).
Three New Testament scholars offer passage-by-passage commentary through the narratives of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, explaining difficult doctrines, shedding light on overlooked sections, and making applications to life and ministry today. Part of the ESV Expository Commentary.
Self-denial means letting go of self-determination (Ps. 49:6–7) and control, replacing them with a comprehensive dependence upon and primary loyalty to the Messiah.4 Conceptually, it is close to Paul’s “dying and rising with Christ” (Rom. 6:3–4). Taking up the “cross,” that is, carrying especially the horizontal beam of a cross to one’s place of execution,5 means living in a way akin to taking one’s last journey to one’s own execution. The grace of the gospel is that one who does so discovers that the Messiah has already taken the place of punishment. By dying a substitutionary and atoning death, Jesus has, in a real sense, taken the final judgment of each disciple upon himself, thus affording the disciple unmerited mercy. Jesus speaks here of aratō ton stauron (“I carry the cross”) in a figurative way: carrying the patibulum, that is, the horizontal beam of a cross, to the place of execution daily (so Luke 9:23!). Contrast this with Simon of Cyrene, who literally and for a limited period of time carried Jesus’s cross (arē ton stauron; Mark 15:21).6 It all serves the purpose of living in simple submission to the sovereign lordship of Christ rather than one’s own determination. By letting go of self-determination and self-sufficiency, the disciple begins to enter into new life given by God (cf. 2 Cor. 1:9).
Such dependence begins with receiving and welcoming personally the substitutionary death of Jesus for personal sinfulness and sins. It continues with letting the love of Christ transform and mold the disciple into a new Christlike human being who uses and hones God-given abilities to the honor of God. In a secondary sense this also implies suffering for Jesus (cf. Mark 8:38) and being willing to die for him as a witness. The “yoke” metaphor employed by Jesus in Matthew 11:28–30 supplements Jesus’s teaching on bearing the cross daily. The more one is surrendered to Jesus, including in all the daily worries and concerns of life, the more one is willing and ready to obey and be guided by the facilitative light yoke of Jesus.
Mark 8:35 Mark here presents Jesus as developing the principle laid down in verse 34. The paradoxical statement favors a figurative interpretation of saving or losing one’s life: he who persists in self-determination (i.e., seeks to “save his life”) will not discover real and eternally enduring life with God (i.e., he “will lose it”). He who gives up self-determination (i.e., “loses his life”) for the “sake” of Christ and the good news (“gospel”) will find communion with God and eternally enduring life. It is possible that this verse refers to not only the “gospel” proclaimed by Jesus but also the good news about him. An example of the paradoxical principle of “letting go in order to gain” is found in Mark 10:29–30 (cf. Luke 9:26). Such life is marked by closeness to God in all areas of existence (i.e., one “will save” one’s life; cf. Mark 8:38).7 Jesus’s call to surrender and full allegiance is comprehensive: true, eternally lasting life arises from a deeply personal response to him.
Response
Jesus asks questions not to learn something but rather to help his disciples and us discover truth and reality. What his disciples expect, namely, a Davidic liberator from Roman oppression, is not what Jesus has come to bring. He willingly goes to his death on the cross to liberate his followers, above all else, from the oppression of sin, with its enmity against God. He also breaks the power of Satan and all evil.
Christ loves his followers and guides them.
Do contemporary followers of Christ approach him with their own agenda, or do they welcome what Jesus came to bring into their lives? Do they inquire into the mission and purpose of God? Modern followers of Jesus are confronted with the same challenges as were the initial disciples: Do modern disciples have a plan for Jesus’s life, as, for example, Peter did (Mark 8:32), even though they know who Jesus is (cf. Mark 8:29)? Or do they seek to be involved in God’s purposes? A follower of Christ appreciates the empowering love of him who calls to such radical discipleship. He becomes aware of the defilement of his own heart and welcomes the reconciling and purifying healing of Jesus’s sacrifice on his or her behalf. Subsequently, the disciple will learn to consider decisions prayerfully and to bring wishes, dreams, and plans about marriage, work, and relationships under his sovereign care (cf. Mark 8:34–35). Such a surrendered life also leads to a new way of bearing responsibility. Rather than being self-sufficient in carrying responsibility, the disciple now learns to bear responsibility by holding his or her will and thought in a teachable, guidable, and prayerful attitude before God. This form of surrender has nothing to do with self-abasement or a life of irresponsibility (cf. comments on Mark 8:34–37). The follower of Christ needs to keep in mind that the one he surrenders to is trustworthy, merciful, and powerful. Christ loves his followers and guides them.
Regarding the particular cost of discipleship in Mark 8:34, Bonhoeffer rightly linked Jesus’s call to carry the cross daily (Luke 9:23; cf. Mark 8:34) with carrying the yoke of Christ (Matt. 11:28–30).8 While figuratively carrying the cross (patibulum) focuses on letting go of self-determination, carrying the figurative slave yoke of Christ and learning from him focuses on the process of surrendered obedience to his good, humble, and well-calibrated guidance. An attitude and practice of deep trust and surrender (cf. John 12:24) is thus supplemented by a willingness to accept Jesus’s painful way of leading his followers from sinful ways and a “culture of death” or a “culture of pride” toward a true, God-filled life. The freedom Jesus brings enables his followers to know the difference between seeking their own lives and the life that Christ gives. Such new life gives new courage: courage to confess allegiance and loyalty to Christ in the face of threats. Likewise, Jesus will identify with his followers at the last judgment (Mark 8:38).
Notes:
- Cf. comments on 1:16–20; 2:13–16; 6:1–2; 9:38–40; 10:21; 10:28; 10:32–34; 10:52; 14:54; 15:40–41.
- Cf. Matthew 10:38–39; Luke 14:27–33; 17:33; John 12:25–26.
- E.g., Genesis 5:22, 24; 6:9; 17:1; 24:40; 48:15; Deuteronomy 5:33; 8:6; 10:12; Daniel 9:10.
- Cf. C. Gambrell, “The Portrayal of Discipleship in Mark 8:34” (master’s thesis, Covenant Theological Seminary, 2013), 43.
- E.g., Josephus, Antiquities 17.269–298. Josephus mentions the crucifixion of two thousand Jews.
- Note the parallel in John 19:17: bastazōn heautō ton stauron (lit., “bearing for himself the cross”).
- Cf. John 6:27, 29, 33, 35, 40, 47–48, 51–58; 12:25.
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship, trans. Barbara Green and Reinhard Krauss, DBW (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2003), 4:88–93.
This article is by Hans F. Bayer and is adapted from ESV Expository Commentary: Matthew–Luke (Volume 8).
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