Following Jesus on the way to the cross

Enter the story

Read on from Peter’s confession in Mark 8:27–30. Now Jesus speaks quite openly about what awaits him.

Commentary

Immediately after Peter has said that Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus begins to speak about suffering. The Son of Man must suffer greatly, be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, be killed and rise after three days. And Mark adds a little sentence I have read many times: He said this quite openly.

It had not been like this before. Jesus had spoken in parables, asked people to keep quiet, kept things hidden. Now he lays everything out. And at that very moment, it becomes impossible to accept.

Peter takes him aside and begins to rebuke him. I understand Peter so well. He has just said the greatest thing he could say about Jesus, and now Jesus speaks about being killed. It does not fit together. And beneath the protest lies love. He does not want his friend to suffer.

I have felt that same urge. When someone I love is heading towards something difficult, I want to draw them aside and say: Do not do this. There must be another way. And I have prayed to God in the same way, asking him to choose an easier road, for me and for those I love.

But Jesus turns round. We are told that he looked at the disciples. Then he speaks the harshest words he says to any of his own: Get behind me, Satan.

For a long time, I heard only the harshness in this. But then I noticed the first words: Get behind me. He is not sending Peter away. He is putting him back in the place a disciple should occupy. Behind. Following. The one who follows, not the one who leads.

There is grace in that. For the worst thing that could happen would be for Peter to get his way.

Jesus says that he is not thinking God’s thoughts, but human thoughts. I know how deeply they are rooted in me. I want a life without a cross, a God who shields me from all pain, a road that bypasses Jerusalem.

And there he stands, turning towards me too. Not to reject me, but to remind me where I belong. Behind him. On the road he is walking, not the road I would have planned for him.

Look closely

What does Jesus say the Son of Man must go through? What is the difference between Peter’s thoughts and what Jesus teaches?

Reflect

Where am I trying to get Jesus to follow my plan, instead of following him?

Together

How can we help one another listen to Jesus when his words challenge our expectations?

Live it out

Bring before Jesus a decision you want to control yourself. Read his words and ask for help to follow.

Enter the story

Jesus calls both the crowd and the disciples to him. The invitation to follow is for everyone who wants to.

Commentary

Jesus calls the crowd to him along with the disciples. What he is about to say is not just for the twelve. It concerns everyone standing there, and everyone who will later read it.

And he begins with a condition: If anyone wants to follow me. It is not a demand. It is an invitation. No one is pressured onto this road. But whoever wants to follow must know what the road is.

He says three things. Deny yourself. Take up your cross. Follow him.

It has taken me a long time to understand the first. For many years, I heard it as a call to make myself small, to distrust everything I wanted and felt. But I do not think that is what it means. To deny yourself is not to despise yourself. It is to let go of myself as the centre. To stop being the one around whom everything must revolve.

The cross is harder. I have heard people call every burden their cross: an illness, a difficult neighbour, a demanding job. But the cross in this passage is not something that happens to us. It is something we take up. We choose it because we follow the one who chose it first.

Then comes the sentence that has stayed with me throughout my life: Whoever wants to save their life will lose it. But whoever loses their life for my sake and for the gospel will save it.

I cannot explain this. Some of the times I held most tightly to what I wanted to protect, it seemed to slip through my fingers. And some of the times I gave something away—time, security, pride—I received more back than I could have kept for myself.

What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, but lose their life? I do not read this as a threat, but as a quiet question about what I am really building on. There is nothing I can give in exchange for my own life. It can only be given, and received.

Finally, Jesus promises that some of those standing there will see the kingdom of God come with power. The road goes through the cross, but it does not end there.

That is why I dare to walk it. Not because I am brave. But because he has gone ahead, and because there is light at the other end.

Look closely

What three things does Jesus mention about following him? What distinguishes losing your life for his sake and the gospel’s from simply experiencing hardship?

Reflect

What am I holding on to as the centre of my own life? What does Jesus want me to let go of?

Together

How can we support one another in the choices that cost us something for Jesus’ sake?

Live it out

Choose one specific step in which you put Jesus’ words and another person’s good ahead of your own need to get your way.

Enter the story

Jesus takes three disciples up the mountain with him. Read what they see, what Peter says and what the Father says.

Commentary

Six days after Jesus has spoken about the cross, he takes Peter, James and John up a high mountain. They are alone. And there he is transfigured before their eyes.

Mark describes it with a detail I have always liked: his clothes became so white that no one on earth who bleaches cloth could make them that white. It is an everyday image for something beyond the everyday. As though Peter, when he later told the story, searched for something to compare it with and could find only the washtub.

Elijah and Moses stand there talking with Jesus. And Peter says: Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us build three shelters.

Mark adds that he did not know what to say, because they were so frightened. I recognise myself in that. When something is too great, I fill the silence with words. I want to do something, build something, hold on to it. I want the holy to stay where I can find it again.

But a cloud covers them, and a voice says: This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him.

Not: Build something. Not: Hold on. Just: Listen to him.

And then, suddenly, they see no one with them except Jesus alone. Moses and Elijah are gone. The light is gone. There is only him, as he was before they went up.

I have had a few moments like that in my life. Times when something opened up and I saw more than I could explain. They never lasted long. And afterwards I was left with the same life and the same Jesus I had known before. But I think that is precisely the gift. Not that the mountain remains, but that the one who was in the light is the same one who walks back down with me.

On the way down, he asks them not to tell anyone until the Son of Man has risen from the dead. They do not understand what this means. Instead, they ask about Elijah. And Jesus answers that Elijah has already come, and they did to him whatever they wished. Here too, immediately after the glory, he speaks about suffering.

The mountain and the valley belong together. The light at the summit is not an escape from the road towards Jerusalem. It is what makes that road possible to walk.

Below, the crowd is waiting, and a father with a sick boy. But that is another story.

Look closely

What does the voice from the cloud say? Who remains with them at the end, and what does Jesus speak about on the way down?

Reflect

What does it mean to listen to Jesus when a powerful experience is over and everyday life is waiting?

Together

How can good encounters with God help us follow Jesus in everyday life?

Live it out

Read a word from Jesus slowly and be still for a while. Carry it into a specific task in your day.

Enter the story

Coming down from the mountain, Jesus meets a father who has waited a long time for help for his son. Read his prayer without rushing past it.

Commentary

When Jesus comes down from the mountain, he meets an argument. The other disciples are standing in the middle of a crowd, debating with the teachers of the law. The light on the mountain has given way to voices talking over one another.

In the midst of it all stands a father. He has brought his son, and the disciples have tried to help, but they could not.

Jesus asks what it has been like. And the father tells him. He has seen the boy fall, foam at the mouth, grind his teeth, become rigid. He has pulled him out of fire and water. When Jesus asks how long it has been like this, he answers: Since he was little.

I think about what lies in that answer. All the years. All the nights. All the times he has prayed and waited and been disappointed. And now, finally, the disciples who could do nothing either.

Then he says: If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.

Jesus picks up those two words. If you can! Everything is possible for the one who believes.

And the father cries out what I think is one of the most honest prayers in the whole Bible: I believe. Help my unbelief.

I have prayed that prayer many times. It does not say that faith is strong enough. It does not say that doubt is gone. It brings both at once and places them in his hands. I have felt this most when praying for my own loved ones. Then there is no room for pretending. You believe, and you doubt, and you pray anyway.

Jesus speaks to the spirit, and the boy lies there as though dead. People say he is dead. But Jesus takes him by the hand and raises him up, and he stands.

It is the same word as with Jairus’ daughter. He takes the hand. He raises up.

Afterwards, inside the house, the disciples ask why they could not drive the spirit out. And Jesus says that this kind can only be driven out through prayer and fasting.

I think they had done what they had done before, with the same words, the same authority. But they had forgotten to pray. I recognise that danger too. Assuming that what worked yesterday will work today, without turning to the one it came from.

Perhaps that is why the father received help, and the disciples did not. He had nothing but a prayer. And that was enough.

Look closely

What does the father ask for, and how does Jesus respond to both him and the boy? What do the disciples ask afterwards, and what does Jesus answer?

Reflect

Can I bring both my faith and my doubt before Jesus without pretending?

Together

How can we be a community where people can pray honestly and receive support over time?

Live it out

Pray for a need you have carried for a long time. You may like to use the words: I believe. Help my unbelief. Share the prayer with someone you trust.

Enter the story

Jesus wants time with the disciples to teach them. They hear his words, but do not understand and are afraid to ask.

Commentary

They are walking through Galilee, and Jesus does not want anyone to know. This is no longer the time for crowds and miracles. Now it is time to teach those who will carry on. So as they walk, he speaks to them.

The Son of Man will be handed over into human hands. They will kill him, and three days later he will rise.

I have paused over those words about human hands. Throughout the gospel, we have seen what his hands did. He took the dead girl by the hand. He touched the man with leprosy. He put his fingers in the deaf man’s ears. He took the boy with convulsions by the hand and raised him up. Now he says that he himself will be placed in the hands of others. The one who has held will be held. Not with care, but with violence.

And we are told that they did not understand what he said, and they were afraid to ask him.

It is one of the quietest sentences in Mark, and one of the most human. They walk beside him, they hear the words, and they do not dare to ask. Perhaps because they do not want to hear the answer. Perhaps because they are afraid to show how little they understand.

I know how that kind of silence feels. I have sat beside sickbeds and not asked what I should have asked. I have walked beside people I love and left things unsaid, because it was safer not to know. It is a fear that does not shout. It simply takes the questions away.

But I think Jesus would have borne with their questions. He had answered them before, again and again. He was not the one closing the door. Fear was.

I would like to learn to ask anyway. To say: I do not understand. Explain it to me once more. Those who dare to ask may not understand everything at once. But they do not walk alone with what they do not understand.

And in what he said lay words they missed: three days later he will rise. Fear heard only death. But he had said more.

Look closely

What does Jesus say about death and what will happen afterwards? What prevents the disciples from asking?

Reflect

What questions do I hold back because I fear the answer or fear showing how little I understand?

Together

How can we give one another the security to ask difficult questions?

Live it out

Put into words one question you have kept inside. Bring it to someone you can read and pray with.

Enter the story

After Jesus has spoken about his suffering, the disciples have been discussing who is the greatest. Notice how he teaches them.

Commentary

When they arrive home in Capernaum, Jesus asks what they were discussing on the way. No one answers. They had been discussing which of them was the greatest.

I read their silence as shame. They knew the conversation could not bear being spoken aloud before him. And it moves me that Jesus does not scold them. He sits down, calls the twelve to him and says: Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.

I have never argued aloud about such things. But I have silently ranked people. Compared myself with other writers, other preachers, other people. Who is read, who is listened to, who is remembered. It is the same conversation on the road, only without words.

Then Jesus takes a little child, places the child among them and takes the child in his arms. Whoever welcomes a child like this in my name welcomes me.

The child has no rank. The child can give nothing in return. And right there, he says, is where he himself is to be found.

I think about how he did not simply point to the child. He held the child. The answer to the question of who is greatest was not a speech, but a child in his arms.

Look closely

What does Jesus say about the one who wants to be first? What does he do with the child, and whom do they welcome when they welcome a child like this?

Reflect

Whom do I compare myself with? How does that affect the way I meet others?

Together

What place do those with no influence, status or anything to give in return have in our community?

Live it out

Give time and attention to someone who is easily overlooked. Let caring matter more than being noticed yourself.

Enter the story

John tells of a man who uses Jesus’ name but does not follow their group. Jesus also teaches them about a cup of water and responsibility for the little ones.

Commentary

John tells them that they saw a man driving out evil spirits in Jesus’ name. They tried to stop him because he was not following them.

I notice that he says us, not you. The man was not following us. It is the old temptation in all Christian life: to make our own community the measure of who belongs to Jesus.

Jesus says: Do not stop him. Whoever is not against us is for us.

I have lived long enough to see many boundaries drawn between Christians. The right doctrine, the right movement, the right way to pray. I have drawn some of them myself. And several times I have found God at work on the other side of a boundary I had been certain about.

Then Jesus says something about the smallest thing of all: Whoever gives you a cup of water because you belong to Christ will not lose their reward. A cup of water. It is almost nothing. But it is seen.

And immediately afterwards comes the stern word about the millstone, for anyone who causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble. I read this as the other side of the same matter. The smallest good is remembered. And shutting someone out of faith is no small thing.

Look closely

Why did the disciples try to stop the man? What does Jesus say about the smallest good and about causing one of the little ones to stumble?

Reflect

Where have I made my own group the measure of whom God can use?

Together

How can we welcome what God does through others, and protect those whose faith is vulnerable?

Live it out

Encourage someone who serves Jesus in another community. Also give simple, practical help to someone who needs it.

Enter the story

Read these solemn words in the context of the argument about being greatest and Jesus’ care for the little ones. Pause over the ending about salt and peace.

Commentary

If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. If your foot, if your eye. These are some of the hardest words Jesus speaks.

I have never read them literally, and I do not think he meant them that way. But neither have I ever been able to read them as gentle. They say that some things must be removed completely, not merely reduced or negotiated over. There are things I have held on to for years—habits, patterns of thought, ways of talking about others—where the only honest path was to let them go altogether.

Then the image changes. Everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good. But if salt loses its flavour, what can you season it with?

And then the final sentence, which I think carries the whole passage: Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.

It all began with an argument about who was greatest. It ends with peace. Between the two lie the words about the child, the stranger who drove out spirits, the cup of water, what must be cut away. Perhaps that is what salt is: what keeps us from becoming flat and indifferent, while also keeping us from being sharp with one another.

Look closely

What does Jesus say we must deal decisively with? How does the passage end?

Reflect

What habit or way of speaking do I need to let go of entirely, rather than find an excuse for it?

Together

What can we do to take sin seriously and remain at peace with one another?

Live it out

Break with a specific habit that harms you or others. Seek help and support if you need it.

Enter the story

The Pharisees come with a question to test Jesus. He turns their attention towards creation and what God intended for marriage.

Commentary

The Pharisees ask whether a man is allowed to divorce his wife. They ask in order to test him.

Jesus asks what Moses said. They answer that Moses allowed a certificate of divorce to be written. And he answers that this was because of their hardness of heart.

Then he goes back beyond Moses, all the way to creation. From the beginning, God created them male and female. The two are to be one. What God has joined together, human beings must not separate.

This is a passage I read with care. I know people who have been through divorce, and I know it is rarely casual or heartless. Often it is a defeat that has grown over a long time, with pain on both sides.

But I notice something in what Jesus says. The question was about what the man was allowed to do. At that time, a man could send his wife away and leave her without protection. Jesus shifts the question from rights to faithfulness. And when he later speaks with the disciples, he says that the man can commit adultery against his wife. That was not an obvious thing to say then.

I think the words about creation stand there as an ideal none of us lives out fully, within marriage or outside it. It is hard, because it shows what love was meant to be. But it does not stand alone. The whole gospel surrounds it, and in that gospel no one is sent away who cannot come back.

Look closely

What do the Pharisees ask, and what does Jesus say about hardness of heart and God’s will from the beginning?

Reflect

How can faithfulness and care have more room in my relationships?

Together

How can we uphold God’s good will for marriage while also meeting people who carry brokenness and pain with care?

Live it out

Take a specific action that builds trust in a close relationship. Listening, keeping a promise or asking forgiveness can be a first step.

Enter the story

People bring children to Jesus, but the disciples block the way. Notice both Jesus’ reaction and his hands.

Commentary

People come with little children so that Jesus will touch them. And the disciples drive them away.

We are told that Jesus was indignant. It is a strong word, and this is the only place in the gospels where it is used of him. Not towards the Pharisees, not towards the money changers, but towards his own disciples who blocked the way for the children.

Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them. The kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

I have thought a great deal about what it means to receive the kingdom like a child. I do not think it is about children being purer or better. It is about their receiving. They do not ask whether they have earned it. They hold out their hands.

When I hold a grandchild, I feel how little it takes to be loved by a child. The child holds on. Leans close. Has no plan.

And then we are told that Jesus took the children in his arms, laid his hands on them and blessed them. It is one of the gentlest sentences in all of Mark. After so much conflict and so many hard words, there he stands holding a child.

Look closely

What does Jesus do when the disciples hinder the children? What does he say about receiving the kingdom of God?

Reflect

What does it mean for me to receive, rather than try to earn God’s gift?

Together

What can we do to make room for children and take them seriously in our community?

Live it out

Give a child time and attention. Listen, pray for God’s blessing and let the child feel they belong.

Enter the story

A man comes with a question about eternal life. Read the sequence: Jesus sees him, loves him and calls him to follow.

Commentary

A man comes running and falls to his knees. Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

Jesus mentions the commandments. The man answers that he has kept them all since he was young. I think he means it. He is not a hypocrite. He is someone who has tried to live rightly, yet still feels that something is missing.

Then comes the sentence I never finish pondering: Jesus looked at him and loved him.

Love comes before the demand. He sees the man, and he loves him. Only then does he say: You lack one thing. Sell what you own, give to the poor, and come and follow me.

The man’s face falls, and he goes away sorrowful, because he owned a great deal.

I do not have much wealth to hold on to. But I know I have other things. My name, my work, the security of the familiar. I can recognise myself in the man who wanted to follow but could not let go.

Jesus says that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. The disciples are astonished. Who then can be saved? And he looks at them and says: For human beings it is impossible, but not for God.

That is where I rest. Not in having sold enough or given enough. But in the impossible being God’s concern.

Peter reminds him that they have left everything. And Jesus promises that no one who has left anything for his sake will go empty-handed. They will receive a hundred times as much—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children—but with persecutions. Many who are first will be last.

Look closely

What prevents the man from following? What does Jesus answer when the disciples ask who then can be saved?

Reflect

What security, possession or role do I find difficult to let go of?

Together

How can we help one another trust God and be free to share with those who have little?

Live it out

Share something you have held on to tightly, to help someone in need. Bring what you struggle to let go of before Jesus in prayer.

Enter the story

Jesus walks ahead on the road to Jerusalem. For the third time, he says what awaits him. Read the whole message, including the final words.

Commentary

Then we are told that they were on their way up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. They were astonished, and those following were afraid.

I picture him there, a little way ahead of them on the road. He does not wait for them to understand everything. He simply goes first. And they follow, afraid and uncomprehending, but they follow.

Jesus takes the twelve aside once more and tells them what awaits him. This is the third time, and now the words are more numerous and heavier than before. He will be handed over to the chief priests and teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and hand him over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, spit on him, flog him and kill him.

I notice how specifically he speaks. He mentions not only death, but every humiliation on the way there. He knows it. And still he walks ahead.

I have thought that walking towards suffering when you only sense it is different from doing so when you know every step. The first can be pushed from your mind. The second must be borne with open eyes. Jesus walked that road with open eyes.

And then come the final words, which they do not hear: After three days he will rise.

Three times he has said it. Three times they have heard only death. I wonder whether I would have heard anything else. I do not think so. When suffering is named so clearly, it fills the whole field of vision. Hope lies in a little sentence at the end, and you must have been through the darkness before you can see how great it is.

Look closely

What new details does Jesus mention about his suffering? What promise does he give at the end?

Reflect

What help is there in knowing that Jesus knows where the road leads and still walks ahead?

Together

How can we help one another hear the hope without glossing over what is painful?

Live it out

Read the three announcements in Mark 8:31, 9:31 and 10:33–34 together. Thank Jesus for walking the road to its end.

Enter the story

James and John ask for the foremost places. Jesus gathers the twelve and teaches them what greatness and leadership should be among his people.

Commentary

Immediately after Jesus has spoken about mockery and flogging, James and John come to him. Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask.

It is almost unbelievable. But I recognise that prayer. I have prayed like that myself. Not with those words, but with the same meaning: Give me what I want, and I will tell you afterwards what it is.

Jesus asks: What do you want me to do for you?

They want to sit beside him in his glory, one on the right and one on the left. They picture a throne. He sees a cross.

You do not know what you are asking, he says. Can you drink the cup I am to drink? And they answer: We can.

There is something touching in that answer. They are so certain. And Jesus does not say they are wrong. He says they will drink it. But the places they asked for are not his to give.

The other ten become angry. I do not think it was because they were better. They simply had not got there first.

Then Jesus gathers them all and speaks about power. Those who rule in the world make people feel their power. It must not be like that among you. Whoever wants to be great must be a servant. Whoever wants to be first must be slave to all.

And then he says why: For the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many.

I have read that sentence so often that I must stop to hear it again. The one who had the right to be served chose to serve. Not as an example we must imitate through willpower, but as a gift that frees us to do the same.

Look closely

What do the two brothers want? What does Jesus say the Son of Man came to do, and how does that shape the disciples’ lives?

Reflect

What am I really asking for when I seek honour or influence?

Together

How can leaders and others in our community serve in a way that gives others room and freedom?

Live it out

Do something for someone without seeking honour or anything in return. Pray to see what that person needs.

Enter the story

A blind man cries out beside the road, and Jesus stops. Read the question Jesus asks alongside the same question he asked James and John.

Commentary

At the exit from Jericho, a blind man sits beside the road begging. Mark gives him a name: Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus. It is rare for someone who is healed to have their name mentioned. Perhaps because he later became known among those who followed Jesus.

He hears that Jesus is passing by and begins to cry out. Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!

Many rebuke him and tell him to be quiet. But he cries out even louder.

I love him for that. He will not be stopped by those who think he is a nuisance. He knows what he needs, and he knows who is passing by.

Jesus stops. Call him here, he says. And the same people who told him to be quiet now say: Take heart, get up, he is calling you.

Bartimaeus throws off his cloak, springs up and comes to Jesus.

I think about that cloak. For a beggar, it may have been the only thing he owned, a blanket at night and something to collect gifts on during the day. Just before this in the gospel, a rich man went away sorrowful because he could not let go of what he owned. Here a poor man throws away the only thing he has, without hesitation.

Then Jesus asks exactly what he asked James and John: What do you want me to do for you?

The two asked for honour. Bartimaeus asks to see. Rabbouni, let me regain my sight.

Go, your faith has saved you. And immediately he regained his sight and followed Jesus on the road.

On the road. The road that leads up towards Jerusalem. The man who has just received his sight chooses to walk with him towards the cross.

I would like to pray that prayer. Not for a place beside him. But to see. And to follow, when I see.

Look closely

What does Bartimaeus ask for? How does the crowd’s attitude change, and what does the man do after regaining his sight?

Reflect

What will I answer when Jesus asks what I want him to do for me?

Together

How can we be people who clear the way and say: He is calling you?

Live it out

Help someone who has been overlooked to be heard. Also ask Jesus for help to see and follow him yourself.