This week we come to a long question, but a powerful and important one posed by Jesus Himself. He was having a turning point conversation with His disciples in the Gospel of Mark. He was asking what people were saying about Him and then He made it personal. He asked them: “who do you say that I am?” Another important question, but we are focusing on one that comes later. Peter answers correctly and is the first to identify Jesus as the Messiah; the Son of God. But then what we will think about today is Jesus telling them what that really means. Being the Messiah does not look like the Warrior King overthrowing the occupying powers the way they had imagined, but instead it looks like vulnerability, pain, suffering and rejection! How can it be? It is hard for the disciples to accept this, and then Jesus calls them to deeper discipleship. He calls them to follow Him and trust Him even on this hard path. And then this amazing question: what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?”
Let’s think about this together as a community, as we all seek to follow Jesus with more integrity.