What does death look like in the living?

I’m clinging tight to Jesus in these days approaching the cross. I know this Easter story. It’s etched on my heart. But I cling, not because I’m afraid of Jesus dying (I know what follows Good Friday)….but that he calls me to die with him.

If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.

These words of Jesus are strong. They cut right through our “Christians have a blessed life” theology. They turn upside down the idea that following Jesus is something we can do in addition to living the life we’ve always known. These words make being a disciple seem scary. For who wants to lose her life? What normal person really wants to die?

I really love the gospel of Mark. This is where I find these words that sting. And when Jesus speaks them, there’s a shift in Mark’s gospel story from the identity of Jesus, to that of his disciples.

What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus? And what does it look like to follow him?

Jesus gets right to the point when he addresses these questions.  At the heart of discipleship is death – the taking up of a cross. Friends, this cross we anticipate during Easter isn’t just the old rugged one that held our Savior. It’s our cross too. The one we’re called to carry. For if we want to follow Jesus into life, we must first follow him into death.

But doesn’t the resurrection claim victory over death? Yes!

But the resurrection of Jesus doesn’t mean that death is no longer. Rather, it’s the hope that after death there is always life.

Where there is sin, there will be death. But in Christ, where there is death there is life that always follows. This is the victory we have over death. And it’s eternal. Forever. Offered to anyone who will believe.

This cross we must bear ought to continually and actively shape who we are and how we live.

We know (sort of!) what this looks like in terms of our physical death and our resurrection into eternal life – a forever fellowship with God.

But what does death and resurrection look like in the life of one who claims Jesus as the Christ?

The last 8 chapters of Mark’s gospel focus on discipleship –the central ideas that shape the identity of a disciple of Christ. We learn in the story of Peter’s confession that his expectation of who Jesus should be, and his self-understanding as a disciple, conflicted with the reality being revealed in Jesus. An so, Mark spends the rest of his gospel emphasizing how the identity of Jesus shapes the identity of his disciples – how they should live and relate to God, to others, and to themselves.

So how must a disciple die? What does death look like in the living? What does it mean to take up your cross and follow Jesus?

Chapter 9:33-37 — Reject the world’s notions of who is great. And receive children. For welcoming children is like welcoming Christ, and welcoming Christ is welcoming God. For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as children. Dependent, creative, innocent children. Don’t exploit them, abuse them, abandon or rebuke them. Receive them and bless them as Christ did. Take up your cross and follow me.

9:38-41 — When people speak and heal and serve in the name of Jesus – even those who are different than us — we are not to judge or hinder, but receive. Take up your cross and follow me.

9:42-50 – Whatever causes you to sin, cut it out of your life. Period. For it’s better to enter Heaven empty, than keep it all and be separated from God. Take up your cross and follow me.

10:1-12 – Relationships are meant to be whole. Restored. Abandonment and brokenness are not of God. Take up your cross and follow me.

10:17-29 – Be willing to give up everything to follow Jesus. Money, land, home, family. And give. Take up your cross and follow me.

A death of social order and status. A death of religious pride and judgment. A death of temptations. A death of broken relationships. A death of possessions.

Discipleship is surrendering to little personal deaths that strip away our natural instincts, our sinful responses, our inherited social values, our habits that hinder faithful living. And in our dying, God resurrects new life in us. New life that brings him glory and makes us more alive than we’ve ever been.

And this way of living through dying is God’s way of shaping us. To be more like him. To be more available to his purposes.

Remember, after death there is life. And here’s what the living part looks like:

A death of social order and status. Humility resurrected.

A death of religious pride and judgment. Unity resurrected.

A death of temptations. Faithfulness resurrected

A death of broken relationships. Community resurrected.

A death of possessions. Abundance in Christ.

As we anticipate the death of Jesus, it is faithful and good to consider the ways we are called to die with him. As individuals, families and communities of faith. What are we called to? What must we give up, turn away from, die to in order to embrace the life Jesus wants for us? These deaths aren’t easy, but we can face them with promise and hope that resurrection follows. That the life God intends for his people is more abundant than any life we would chose for ourselves.

Let us be a living people who aren’t afraid to die in Christ.