Mark 8:34–35 with St. John Paul II
“And 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. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.’”
In Mark 8, Jesus delivers the first of three predictions of his passion, death, and resurrection found in the Gospel (Mk. 8:31). Upon hearing this, Peter rebukes the Lord. Jesus immediately chastises Peter and commands him to “get behind” him. With these seemingly harsh words Jesus echoes his initial invitation for Simon Peter to follow him, to “get behind” him as his disciple (cf. Mk. 1:17). For the disciple is called to follow the Master closely; this is where one learns the Christian life. The Lord makes it clear that being his disciple entails doing what he does, not telling him what to do. Jesus tells those gathered around him—apostles, disciples, and the crowd—that each and every one of his followers is called to take up the cross and follow him. Pope St. John Paul II, in a Wednesday audience, acknowledges that with these words “Christ proposes a narrow way that demands sacrifice and total self-giving.” It remains clear as the gospel unfolds that the path of following Christ “includes the thorns of suffering and persecution.” John Paul II concludes, “discipleship, then, is not an easy journey on a level road.” It is the path of imitating Christ in all things, including the journey up the hill of Calvary.
From the gospel we know of Peter’s harsh reaction to hearing his friend predict his suffering and death. Imagine, for a moment, what everyone else thought when they heard the prophecy of what their own vocation would demand. These words are difficult for us to hear. In fact, they might be too much to bear if the Lord did not attach a promise of salvation to them. It is on that promise that John Paul II encourages us to fix our gaze, for the “ultimate goal of discipleship is glory.” This is the paradox of the personal cross that the Christian carries behind Christ. The Cross, an instrument of death, becomes a means of life because of Jesus’ own death and subsequent Resurrected glory. The suffering we experience in our lives, then, is an opportunity to bear our cross as the Lord commanded. We prove our fidelity to him by self-sacrificial acts of love. This is how we become more like him. Through faithfully and lovingly carrying our cross, we look forward to the reward he promised. St. Paul reinforces this logic stating, “for if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Rom. 6:5). John Paul II reminds us to look to the “Cross, sign of love and of total self-giving” because it is “the emblem of the disciple called to be configured to the glorious Christ.”[1]
