Mark 8:31-38
Jesus Predicts His Death
31He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
33But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
34Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? 37Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 38If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."
Jesus knows all things...He can see into the future...He knew His death was coming shortly...Here He teaches His disciples that He, the Son of Man, must suffer...He must be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the law...Jesus teaches them that He must be killed (He must die for our sins)...He even more importantly, told the Twelve that He would rise...
Peter, upset with hearing this, takes Jesus aside to rebuke Him, and probably tells Him to be more positive, things will be alright, and You will be alright...Jesus knowing what must happen now rebukes Peter (very severely) and tells him that he does not know God's will...Jesus tells Peter that he knows about things of men...Peter and man is limited...Many earthly desires and attachments are of the evil one...Heaven is void of evil...Peter, at this point, did not understand heaven, and the power and divinity of His Master...
Jesus then tells the crowd and His disciples that if we want to follow Him, we must deny ourselves...We must deny our world and have the kingdom of God our focus, the central part of our life...If man just continues on a path of non-belief he will lose his life...But if we lose our life for the gospel, then our life will be saved...What good is it to have the whole world, if you have to forfeit your soul to get it (the whole world)?...What can a man give in exchange for his soul?...If we are ashamed of the Son and His words, then He will be ashamed of us when we reach the Father's glory with the holy angels...
Denying this world is very difficult...Maybe it because something we can feel, touch, see, hear, smell our earth...We can sense the earth... We think we have an understanding to it...We often want to deny this adulterous and sinful world, but we have this earthy connection...It seems we are mostly connected to this world...God gives us just enough light to see Him...This connection is loose or at least looser...God remains a mystery...The earth in our own eyes is less than a mystery to the average adult...God often seems hidden, but not this world...We know God who is Almighty can in the blink of an eye end this mystery and give everyone the evidence for "everyone" to believe in Him...Why don't He?...
We are told to be Holy...Be Holy, because I AM Holy (Leviticus 11:44)...We try to be Holy but we can't be Holy...Because we have two faces, we, man are also a mystery...Our two faces must become one...That can only happen when we feed our soul with the spiritual nutrition it needs...When we focus on the Father and the Son, and less on the possessions and desires of this world...When we are not ashamed of His words, when we are ready to lose our life for Him and the gospel, then we have the one face...
When we are truly believers, then we can deny ourselves and take up His cross...Then He is our Master and we will follow Him...Then we can be Holy like the Holy One...Jesus is our mediator...He is the One who died for our sins...We still sin, therefore we need Jesus...If I expect to be judged for my life's work and expect justice then I am doomed...I know I am a wretched man...If God gives me justice, I will have an eternal life of misery... I thank God that He is pure love...I thank God, everyday, that He is full of grace...I am a sinner...I thank God that He sent Jesus for me, because of my sins...He died for us, for me...He died for our sins...We have a sin problem, Jesus is the answer to this problem...How sad it was He had to die for our sins, how great thou art, for dying for us...