Cruciform Discipleship

My first letter that announced to friends, family and supporters that I was beginning full time ministry was full of hope, passion and aspirations to make disciples among college students. Like many “ministry” letters do, I included a Bible verse to declare my intentions as a leader. The verse I chose was 1Corinthians 2:2…

For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

The truth is, I had no idea then how profound those words would be in my own discipleship let alone in the call to make disciples. They have become words that are the deepest desire of my heart and life.

Discipleship. The word prompts all kinds of thoughts ranging from a myriad of books written on the topic, sermons preached, bible reading plans, church programs, one to one meetings, life in community, pursuing justice, simplicity, purity….and on and on and on. I believe wholeheartedly that discipleship is the joy and labor of a person who follows Jesus, filled by His Spirit to live under his Lordship. After preaching through Mark’s gospel to our Mosaik community over a year, we made a discovery that has stirred in me passion for Jesus, worship and a desire to emulate him all the more. Many of us have read and taught from the familiar passages of “denying ourselves” and “serving others”. What has shaken me is the greater context in which Jesus said them in the gospels. In Mark’s gospel as well as the other synoptic gospels, the associations of self denial, following Jesus and becoming the servant of all are always made in connection with his death. Give thought to that for just a minute. Discipleship repeatedly over shadowed by the crucifixion. What would that mean for us?

Three times in the gospel of Mark Jesus makes predictions of his death found in back to back chapters — Mark 8, 9 and 10.

Mark 8
31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.

Mark 9
30 They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, 31 because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.” 32 But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.

Mark 10
33 “We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, 34 who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.”

It is immediately following the three predictions of his death, that Jesus spoke most directly about the nature of discipleship. Consider what he says after each death prediction…

After his first prediction in Mark 8:31, Jesus says the following:
Mark 8
34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

After his second prediction in Mark 9:30–32, Jesus addresses his disciples by saying:
Mark 9
33 They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” 34 But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest. 35 Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”

After the final prediction of his death in Mark 10:33, James and John had lobbied for positions of power at Jesus’ left and right to which he said:
Mark 10
42 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

I find the implications of Jesus’ death and the fact that he always connected it with our discipleship riveting, absolutely riveting.

What if the crucifixion was where we began not only to explain the act of our pardon for sin but to rediscover the called for approach to our own discipleship? What if pondering and emulating Jesus in his most painful hours informed our mandate of discipling others to reflect more and more this call to cruciform discipleship? What if I looked to the crucifixion story as the penultimate example of living the Jesus life? What would I learn and be called to obey from Jesus’ death regarding forgiveness, meekness, servanthood, the pursuit of justice, the work of the Spirit and a myriad other life issues?

This is astonishing. That what we read and reflect on in the story of Jesus’ trial, crucifixion and death is not only the means by which we are saved from sin but it is also one of the ultimate lessons in what it means to be a disciple of Jesus, denying yourself, following him, and considering the needs of others before your own. Doesn’t Jesus embody all that through his suffering? Our discipleship has always been meant to be connected to and to emulate his words and actions in his most difficult hours. It is his death and the way he conducts himself through it that depicts for us the path of discipleship. Perhaps this is why Paul wrote and intentionally lived out long ago the words that have been the banner phrase of my own calling.

1 Corinthians 2:2…
For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.