March 21 / Mark 8:27-9:1; Luke 9:18-27

Mark 8:27-9:1 and Luke 9:18-27

And calling the crowd to Him with his disciples, He said to them, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.” (Mark 8:34) Both Matthew and Luke have Jesus speaking these words (and those that follow) to His disciples. Only Mark has Jesus calling the crowd to Himself. Mark has them in Gentile territory, in the villages around Caesarea Philippi, so Jesus is speaking these words to a Gentile crowd. I posted two years ago that we should read Jesus’ words to His disciples as if He were speaking directly to us today. So Matthew and Luke would have Him speaking directly to us, while Mark would include the “outside” world also. What to make of that? No doubt Jesus is offering comfort to all humankind – if they simply follow Him. But in today’s world, if you watch or read the news you’ll see that our “salvation” rests with which political party we are following or the latest COVID vaccine information or another stimulus check or whatever. Following Jesus is seldom seen as the answer to our problems. However, I do recall David citing a survey source where committed Christians were the lowest percentage “fearful” among all survey groups. Following Jesus…

See also: June 6 / Mark 8:27-9:1; June 7 / Luke 9:18-27