If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me

 And it happened, as He was alone praying, that His disciples joined Him, and He asked them, saying, "Who do the crowds say that I am?"  So they answered and said, "John the Baptist, but some say Elijah; and others say that one of the old prophets has risen again."  He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"  Peter answered and said, "The Christ of God."

And He strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, "The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day."  Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.  For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.  For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?  For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father's, and of the holy angels.  But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the kingdom of God."

- Luke 9:18-27

In yesterday's reading, Jesus called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases.  He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.  And He said to them, "Take nothing for the journey, neither staffs nor bag nor bread nor money; and do not have two tunics apiece.  Whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart.  And whoever will not receive you, when you go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet as a testimony against them."  So they departed and went through towns, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.  Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was done by Him; and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had risen from the dead, and by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the old prophets had risen again.  Herod said, "John I have beheaded, but who is this of whom I hear such things?"  So he sought to see Him.  And the apostles, when they had returned, told Him all that they had done.  Then He took them and went aside privately into a deserted place belonging to the city called Bethsaida.  But when the multitudes knew it, they followed Him; and He received them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who had need of healing.  When the day began to wear away, the twelve came and said to Him, "Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding towns and country, and lodge and get provisions; for we are in a deserted place here."  But He said to them, "You give them something to eat."  And they said, "We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we go and buy food for all these people."  For there were about five thousand men.  Then He said to His disciples, "Make them sit down in groups of fifty.  And they did so, and made them all sit down.  Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude.  So they all ate and were filled, and twelve baskets of the leftover fragments were taken up by them.

And it happened, as He was alone praying, that His disciples joined Him, and He asked them, saying, "Who do the crowds say that I am?"  So they answered and said, "John the Baptist, but some say Elijah; and others say that one of the old prophets has risen again."  He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"  Peter answered and said, "The Christ of God."   My study bible tells us that, as in every generation, what the crowds have to say about Jesus is usually unpredictable and misguided.  But Jesus' question to the disciples, "Who do you say that I am?" is the ultimate question in Scripture and in theology.  My study bible suggests that how this question is answered defines the universe.  Christ (Messiah in Hebrew) means "Anointed One."  Peter's declaration as stated here separates the identity of Christ from that of anointed king of prophet.  He is, rather, the awaited Savior.

And He strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, "The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day."  Immediately upon confession that He is the Christ, Jesus teaches the disciples about what is to come.  This isn't going to be a "golden age" ushered in for Israel nor for His followers.  He's not going to be a king in a conventional sense.  On the contrary, He will suffer many things, be rejected, and killed -- but raised the third day.  The disciples can have no way of understanding what this means.  Perhaps up until the end, they suspect that resurrection means, indeed, a manifestation of a material kingdom.

Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.  For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.  For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?  For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father's, and of the holy angels."  But Jesus goes further than simply to teach about what will happen to Him.  His followers will also be subject to testing, they will also have to take up the cross as He does, daily.  There will be a choice for each one about what one loves best, most.  It's not going to be easy.  And His hints here are clear:  those who will follow Him will also be subject to social stigma, even persecution, and they will have to make a choice.  My study bible says that the burden in this world is different for each person; each has been chosen by God to bear certain struggles for one's own salvation and for those around oneself. 

"But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the kingdom of God."  My study bible tells us that this is a reference to the Transfiguration (tomorrow's reading) -- but also to those in every generation who experience the presence of God's Kingdom for themselves.

What does it mean to take up one's cross daily?  How can these disciples possibly know what He is talking about at this point in Christ's ministry?  They have just confessed, through Peter who often speaks for the rest in the Gospels, that He is the "Christ of God."  What can they possibly expect from this understanding besides the things they've heard about the time of the Messiah?  Life will be exceedingly different from what they may have been led to expect, from what the people of Israel await.  This particular Liberator is not going to be one like a traditional king with a great army, throwing off political enemies, conquering lands, and bringing home great wealth for all the people.  This kind of liberation comes from elsewhere and otherwise; He's a spiritual Liberator for all of us.  He will be a Redeemer, one who pays a ransom to set captives free.  These are great mysteries, unknown to these men, but they are things they will come to know and to learn, and to teach to the world.  One thing is clear:  Jesus makes it perfectly plain to all of them that He will suffer, and that He will die.  Connected to all of this is also Resurrection.  And, once again, they can't really know what He means; they can't know what to expect.  The truly important and essential thing here is that He is  their leader and teacher, and His disciples cannot expect less than the Master.  Anyone who follows Him, He says, must be prepared to take up their own cross daily.  They may need to sacrifice a life of security in order to follow Him.  Even the whole world is worth the sacrifice demanded by loyalty to Him.  Those are extremely strong and stark terms in which He puts their mission of following Him, of being His disciples.  But wherever He may ask us to go, He goes first.  He does what we cannot, as the One who will transform suffering into something with a kind of purpose for the Kingdom, transfiguring the world and the lives of those who follow.   The choice He offers is one of very strong terms, not nuanced.  When it comes right down to it, we just might find that choice on offer in every kind of decision we have to make, in every dilemma.  And He mentions shame:  shame will figure prominently in what follows. There is the shame and scandal of the Cross, and the social stigmatization that goes with it or being the follower of One who dies in such a way.  2,000 years of Christian life and all its history cannot remove this important choice from us.  We may find ways in which we are called to stand up for something that makes us outcast or shamed, and that, too, is something to prepare for.  That might mean, for instance, standing up for someone who's bullied, or taking on an unpopular cause.   It is a part of the life of taking up the Cross.  It hasn't gone away, even as we await His return.    His words are still important for us to hear.