"And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels. But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God."
In today's quote, Jesus made the point that those of us who choose to follow Him should dedicate our lives to Him. That means that we must be wholly devoted to Him only. We are to have no other distractions that might take away from God in our lives.
NOTE: The wording of verse twenty three of today's quote causes me some concern, as does the equivalent wording in the accounts of this lesson found in Matthew and Mark.
A part of verse twenty three of today's lesson recounts Jesus as saying that one must "take up his cross daily". That phrase puzzles me in that 'taking up the cross' seems to be out of place in this context seeing that the significance of that phrase was not made apparent until Jesus was crucified on a cross that He was made to carry.
The word "cross", as it is generally applied in the New Testament, is defined as the horrible means by which Jesus and thousands of Christians were killed. Yet, as it is applied in today's quote, the word seems to be defining something totally different. Herein, the phrase seems to define a daily burden, or a load. That particular usage, to me, is an anomaly since the significance of the phrase "take up the cross" or take up "your'" cross, was established AFTER Jesus was made to carry the cross upon which He was crucified.
I understand that details like this don't much matter to many bible students, but to me, those details are what gives the overall message of God's word it's perfect meaning. I believe we are to use every means at our disposal to understand the explicit meaning of the word of God, "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15)
It appears to me that either the original author, or the translater/transliterater applied a phrase that could have only been coined after Jesus was crucified. It seems to make no difference on the surface, but I would sure love to know what Jesus said in the original Aramiac language. ~
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