Jeremy L. Berg

“You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s” (Mark 8:33 NLT).

Is there any statement of Jesus more timeless and relevant to our own discipleship journey than the above rebuke of Peter?  This central challenge provides the serious follower of Jesus with a handy test by which to make daily choices in a world of competing wisdom.  Will I choose to live and see the world through God’s “Kingdom-colored glasses” or follow the crowds living according to mere human, conventional wisdom?

Jesus then pushes the disciples a bit further by fleshing out how tough this really will be in vv. 34-38.  When the world’s conventional wisdom tells you to “indulge yourself”, Kingdom wisdom says, “Deny yourself.”  When conventional worldly wisdom says “Might is right”, Kingdom wisdom counterintuitively says that “Power is made perfect in weakness” and the path to glory sometimes goes through the agony of the cross.  When conventional wisdom says to “look out for number one” and human nature seeks to preserve one’s own life, Kingdom wisdom tells us to let go of the controls, trust God with our life and thereby truly preserve it.

To round off this radical Kingdom-shaped redefinition of reality, Jesus asks: “What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade your soul for” (vv. 36-37 The Message). Some passages need no explanation.  They instead demand a once-for-all decision and action.  In a world that seems to have already traded it’s soul for cheap, momentary thrills that over-promise and under-deliver, Jesus’ words demand another hearing.

They are “words of life” that sound like death at first.  In fact, they do demand we die to our own desires in order to be “born again” to a new life of Spirit-produced desires that point us toward the “abundant life” (cf. John 10:10) we were all designed for.  Let us end by pondering Eugene Peterson’s Message paraphrase of this powerful Kingdom challenge:

Calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat; I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade your soul for?” (Mark 8:34-37 The Message)