What good is it to gain the whole world yet forfeit your soul?

Mark 8:31-38

So what does it really mean to follow Jesus for those who see who Jesus really is and what he came to do?

Yesterday the penny dropped for Peter but it was clear that he hadn’t got the whole picture and his very next step was to try and hold Jesus back from fulfilling God’s saving plan to heal the world. When Jesus first invited them to follow him he said nothing about what it might mean. Now Jesus paints a very clear picture of what it means to follow him. These few verses reveal the heart of God in self-giving love. This is love in community and the essence and nature of all that Jesus has come to offer, revealing the likeness of his heavenly Father.

There is irony in this call to give everything up. Losing everything to follow Jesus, is the parody of the Christian faith. Mostly in the world we are trained to take and gain and acquire, yet this is the opposite for those who want to follow Jesus. Remember on day 3 we read about the call of the first disciples when they gave up everything. Only by giving it all up do we gain everything and more back. In selfless love, God’s purposes are revealed and the world and all that is in it is saved. This might be totally contrary to what we think or may have known in the past but this is the way, the cost, the call for all who come to realise who Jesus is and what that means for our lives.