Lenten Musings - 8

I'm currently in the process of making a puppet theatre for my kids. The previous tenant at our place left a bunch of wood behind when they left. I held onto it, just because I do stuff like that, and now it's coming in handy to build the puppet theatre. Maybe I'll post pictures when day when I'm finished.

Mark 8
verses 34 to 38 - 34Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35For whoever wants to save his life[c] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? 37Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 38If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."
This has always been one of those key verses for me. "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." There's a poem (for lack of a better term) that sums up this idea for me. Here's a link. Basically, it tries to fill in the idea of what "dying to self" looks like. I think it's what Jesus modelled for us. Thinking of others first, not trying to be number one, and the centre of attention. Helping, rather than harming. These are all the things that we are called to. Wouldn't the world be an awesome place if we all lived like that. We don't, and I don't, but I try. I try to live out these things, but I'm realistic about the results. Hopefully, over time I am getting better at it.
My other thought about this verse is that at this point, nobody knows that Jesus is going to be crucified. So when He says, "pick up your cross and follow me", what do the people around Him think? He hasn't yet started explaining that He was going to die, and why. There wasn't a well thought out systematic theology built around "the cross". So what did it mean to them? In some remote way, it brings to mind a suicide bomber for me. But the COMPLETE OPPOSITE. Jesus' call was to come and die to self, in the name of loving, helping and blessing others. A suicide bomber only seeks to cause harm and to profit himself (with whatever riches have been promised him in the afterlife). I know it's a bit of a stretch, but if you know that what you're getting yourself into will be costly, hopefully you'll take the time to count that cost, and maybe to realize the true value of it.