What is the true message of the Cross? Jesus is quoted as saying to some people who assembled to hear Him teach, If a man wishes to come after me, he must deny his very self, take up his cross and follow in my steps.

As scholars tell us, it is doubtful that Jesus would have had His own crucifixion in mind. That would have meant that Jesus had pre-cognition of His death on the Cross. The anointing or marking of a person with a cross was, however, practiced among Jews as a sign of repentance and of marking a person as one of God’s possessions. It was often connected with penitential and baptismal rites and is at the basis of the New Testament theme of the baptismal seal. So the quote could read: Whoever does not put a mark on himself cannot be my   disciple.

In this eighth chapter of Mark’s Gospel, which is the reading we use this weekend, Mark reports Jesus teaching His listeners that there is no profit in amassing all the things of this world if you risk destroying yourself. We can’t know how His listeners understood these words. As Christians, who already believe in an afterlife, they have a very definite meaning. We do know that the people of His day, who were always   anticipating the coming of a Messiah, probably took this to mean that how they were living would have an influence on how they would be treated when the Messiah came. While the Jewish people anticipated that a Messiah would grant them freedom from the bondage of the Romans, the Messiah would also have expectations, as all the prophets before him did, of how the people lived. It was Yahweh’s expectation that His people live according to His laws. We know that throughout the Old       Testament, He frequently chastised His people for not living as He had commanded. It would seem very reasonable that this is the way that people heard the teaching of Jesus. It is also true that within the words of Jesus there is a message for us Christians. It IS important how we live this earthly existence. It sets the pattern for the life that will come after this earthly life.

One can only guess the meaning of these words to early Christians as they faced persecution. They probably derived the strength from them to stand firm in their faith as they faced death.

So how do we choose to live? In accord with a set of rules or in accord with the Spirit of Jesus. How we live this life does make a difference if we truly believe that life is immortal.