As Jesus revealed more and more of his purpose and identity as God’s Son, he called his disciples to him in a beautiful area of Palestine called Caesarea Philippi.
There, where they were relaxed and unprepared for surprises, Jesus shared an unexpected message.
ADVERTISEMENT
“He began to teach them that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again” (Mark 8:31).
But Peter couldn’t handle that bad news. He took Jesus aside and they both rebuked each other.
Then, Jesus, not only livid toward Peter but also filled with emotional courage, looked at his disciples and the crowd that had gathered and said, “If anyone would come after me, let him or her deny himself or herself and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever would save his or her life will lose it; and whoever loses his or her life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it”. (Mark 8:34-35).
Fr. John Powell’s book "A Reason to Live and a Reason to Die" proposes that one’s faith cannot be a reason to die unless it is also a reason to live. Thus, those who in faith carry the cross of Christ discover that God’s purpose...