Mark 8:31-34 (NIVUK)
31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. ‘Get behind me, Satan!’ he said. ‘You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.’ 34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
Our road begins with Jesus’ prediction that at the end of it lies his execution – not a destination that sounds appealing! (That said, it always surprises me that nothing is said about his other prediction here of his resurrection.) When Peter rebukes him for talking this way, and doing so publicly, Jesus responds with the famous challenge that his disciples must take up their cross and follow him. I wonder what they heard in that call? We can’t hear it without thinking of what the cross means to us theologically. They would have responded differently. The cross was the execution method of choice for revolutionaries, what did that mean for how they saw their calling I wonder? It was seen by Jews as being indicative of being cursed, again, what might that say to them?
What does it mean, Father, for me to take up my cross and follow today, in 21st Century Britain?
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