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Mark 8: 34 - 38
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Jesus summoned the crowd with his
disciples and said to them, «Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,
take up his cross, and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it.
What profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?
What could one give in exchange for his life?
Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this faithless and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."
He also said to them, "Amen, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come in power."
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it.
What profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?
What could one give in exchange for his life?
Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this faithless and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."
He also said to them, "Amen, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come in power."
Reflection
What makes life meaningful?
We invest so much on the things we believe can guarantee
security, happiness and fulfilment of our dreams. Every day, we struggle to draw
all viable plans to somehow make our living meaningful and worthwhile. But what
if at the end of the road we look back and realize that we have spent our life
absolutely opposite to what we thought it might be? What if we realize that
everything we’ve accomplished were not simply worthwhile? We have trusted and
grieved so much for material things and oftentimes we miss to trust and grieve
to what truly lasts in eternity.
Jesus poses the question: “What could a person give in
exchange of his life?” We know that
everything that we have is God’s gift to us. God has gratuitously gifted us
with everything necessary for our existence and even more than what we truly
deserve. But what do we give in exchange?
The truth is this: It is easy for us to give material
possessions but not ourselves; it is easy to give lip-service but not our
hearts. Jesus says “Whoever wishes to
come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” What do we
keep so much in ourselves? What are there in ourselves that we have to deny?
What are the crosses that we have to bear? Are we ready to lose everything for
the sake of the gospel?
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