Everything remained the same and everything changed when Jesus called the crowd with his disciples and said, “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 lives will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake and for the sake of the gospel will save it.”
What remained the same was Jesus’ invitation to follow that had defined his ministry when he called Peter, Andrew, James, and John to become his first disciples in Mark 1:16-20:
16 As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” 18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19 As he went a little farther, he saw James, son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20 Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.
In our modern understanding of discipleship, it may seem shocking that Peter, Andrew, James, and John would leave behind their family businesses in order to follow Jesus. There was, however, nothing unusual in the time of Jesus about persons leaving their businesses and families for days, weeks, or months in order to follow a rabbi as the rabbi roamed the countryside teaching the Torah or Hebrew scriptures. In the time of Jesus, there were hundreds of rabbis who roamed the countryside, each with his band of disciples who followed him. In fact, Jewish society in the time of Jesus nurtured and celebrated discipleship as Jewish men were encouraged to invest part of their lives following a rabbi who was also known as a sage and later to become rabbis themselves.
According to David Bivin, Jewish men were encouraged to invest a part of their lives following a sage or rabbi. They would usually travel with a rabbi intermittently. A married man could not leave home to follow a rabbi for more than thirty days without his wife’s permission, and as witnessed when James and John left behind their father Zebedee in the boat, a disciple was expected to honor his rabbi above his own parents.
Jewish Rabbis, including Jesus, taught their disciples by walking the land with them, teaching as they walked, using the pictures and metaphors of their surroundings. In learning from their rabbis, disciples would learn that the journey of discipleship was the goal of discipleship.
Everything remained the same as Jesus issued the same distinctive invitation to discipleship that had defined his ministry from its beginning days when he called Peter, Andrew, James, and John to become his disciples by saying, “Follow me.” This was not a common practice among the rabbis of Jesus’ day as most followers of rabbis began to follow their rabbis by offering to be disciples of that rabbi.
While everything remained the same as Jesus offered the invitation to follow him, everything also changed as Jesus began a new teaching about the cost of being his disciple: “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 lives will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake and for the sake of the gospel will save it.”
What was the reason for this new teaching about the cost of following Jesus? Perhaps it was Peter’s confession that Jesus was the Messiah when Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” Perhaps the reason for Jesus’ new teaching about the cost of following him is found in Mark 8:31 in his rejection by the political, religious, and legal authorities of Judah, (the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes) that caused Jesus to teach about the great suffering and crucifixion that he was going to encounter as the Messiah.
Perhaps the reason Jesus talks about his impending crucifixion is so his followers may know the life to which Jesus is calling us as we follow him.
What needs to remain and what needs to change in your life as you follow Jesus?
Following Jesus
by Pastor Marc Brown
February 25, 2024
Accompanying Scriptures: Mark 8:27-37
Fort Hill United Methodist Church
Order of Worship for February 25, 2024
Scripture Lesson Mark 8:27-37
The Good News “Following Jesus”
Music “Near the Cross” by Fanny Crosby
Prayer
Blessing
Closing Music “In the Cross of Christ I Glory” arr. John Carter
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