"Follow Me" - Mark 8:27-38

"If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.”  ~ Mark 8:34-35 

Jesus isn’t asking for much in our lesson from Mark this week, just for our lives.  

He’s not the Messiah that the disciples wanted, and Peter isn’t willing to consider that his Messiah was going to die horribly.  Peter wants a King, a conqueror, a hero to come down and make things right for Israel.  Instead, his Messiah was non-violent, identified with the lowly and outcast, and was telling him that he was going to be killed.  Not only was he going to be killed, but those who proclaim to follow him are expected to do the same.  Pick up your cross and follow me… 

2,000 years on from the life of Jesus, what does it mean for us to pick up our own crosses and follow Jesus?  We are not called to suffer just as part of the pain of the world, nor are we called to seek out martyrdom, but we are called to accept the consequences of following Jesus and we ‘ve seen where it took him.  Let’s consider together where God is calling us to sacrifice, service, and fierce love that insists on justice for all of creation.  

Peace, Pastor Shannon