They did not expect to live long. UK missionaries in the nineteenth century often believed their overseas ministry would probably last a year or two before they’d succumb to disease and death. “Consequently, they would pack all their belongings not into a suitcase, but in a coffin, and then set sail,” explains Peter Maiden in his book Discipleship Matters.
Imagine packing your possessions into the symbol of your own death! Stepping onto ships carrying their coffins, these men were a literal outworking of Jesus’ command: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23).
In their example, extreme though it is, the saving heart of God is revealed. For first Jesus had explained how He would take up His own cross: “The Son of Man must suffer many things . . . and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life” (v. 22). In other words, Jesus packed His own ‘coffin’ when He left heaven. He didn’t just come to live here, but to die. For you. For me. And to be raised again to a new life that can never be lost.
The call to take up our cross is sobering. It involves sacrifice, following wherever Jesus may lead. But it’s the only life where we can walk alongside the One who knows what it takes to lose it all on earth to gain something far better.
By Chris Wale
REFLECT & PRAY
How do you respond to Jesus willingly taking up His cross for you? What might carrying your own cross look like today?
Jesus, thank You for leaving heaven for me, to come and die in my place. My life is Yours, for wherever You will lead me.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
Jesus had been proclaiming His identity and mission for years, and now His closest followers understood who He is. But Jesus answers Peter’s confession that Jesus is “God’s Messiah” (Luke 9:20) with a curious warning “not to tell this to anyone” (v. 21). Jesus says in no uncertain terms that the disciples should keep quiet about His identity. Why would Jesus tell them not to let people know who He is? The answer may be in verse 22, specifically in the word must . Spreading Jesus’s true identity may have interfered with His larger mission. He needed to die, and if the crowds knew He was the Messiah, they may have taken actions that might have interfered, such as making Him king by force (John 6:15) or perhaps stoning Him (10:31). Jesus told them to keep His identity a secret for the sake of His mission—“to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).
JR Hudberg
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