Crosses and Kingdoms

In the life and ministry of Jesus there was a key turning point at which it seems to me he began to focus on the road to the cross and beyond.  It starts with Peter’s great confession of Jesus as the Christ after which he begins for the first time to speak of his impending death and resurrection.  Following that, you find a passage in all three of the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), which comes directly after Jesus’ rebuke of Peter for not having in mind the things of God, but the things of men.  Here Jesus explains, it seems to me, how it is we can have in mind the things of God.  From Mark’s gospel, which presumably was the first, it reads like this:

Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels." And he said to them, "I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power."  (Mark 8:34-9:1, NIV)

Given the context, it seems to me that this is a key passage in understanding the work of Christ and how we connect with it, and yet it contains two of the most debated, and perhaps misunderstood, sayings of Christ in the gospels.  First of all, there is this notion of having to “take up his cross”, and then it ends with the cryptic statement that “some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power.” 

I suggest that something which may help to understand these is to see in this passage a chiasm, a literary tool that biblical writers sometimes used to help point to what the central issue was in the passage as well as to relate component parts to each other.  What if it was intentionally structured by the author this way:

A Taking up the cross and following Jesus

            B Lose your life for the gospel and you will save it

                        C It’s no good to gain the world if you lose your soul

                        C’ What can you give in exchange for your soul?

B’ If you’re ashamed of me and my words (the gospel), I’ll be ashamed of       you

            A’ You won’t die before seeing the kingdom of God come with power

            This seems at least potentially legitimate to me.  Clearly C and C’ are related, and the relationship between B and B’ also seems clear.  That leaves us to try to understand the relationship between taking up the cross and seeing the kingdom come before death.  The key then would be what this structure points to.  That is to understand that the central issue is about eternal existence.  What is this saying about your eternal self (your soul)?

            First of all, we understand that “taking up the cross” is not simply a fatalistic willingness to put up with unwanted burdens in life, but a voluntary (that’s why we “take it up”—it isn’t placed on us) surrender to the Lordship of Christ in our life and willingness to follow his way of discipleship.  Luke adds the term “daily” to this, and I think that is a helpful clarification to make sure we understand what this is really all about. 

            With that understanding, and recognizing the focus of this passage on your eternal existence, I would suggest then that seeing the kingdom of God coming with power before you die is precisely what it implies: that in this life, you will be living an eternal existence with resurrection power.  It moves on into eternity, of course, but Jesus sees this as something that should be a continuum in our lives, not two disconnected types of existence.  This is precisely the kind of viewpoint that Paul takes up in places like Ephesians where he prays that his readers would know “his incomparably great power for us who believe.  That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms.”  (Eph. 1:19,20)

            Many commentators see the fulfillment of 9:1 in the account of the transfiguration which immediately follows.  With our understanding, that becomes not a fulfillment but rather a vivid image for the disciples of just what Jesus meant.  Moses and Elijah were “already there”, but Jesus was still “down here”, and yet the connection between the two in a glorified existence is not as tenuous as we think it is. 

            Having a godly worldview (keeping in mind the things of God) begins with understanding that eternal life for us begins in the here and now as we appropriate the resurrection power of Jesus Christ and see his kingdom come in power through our daily surrender to his lordship in our lives.  Then we will be witnesses for his gospel in ways that make God proud of us and our eternal selves will go on forever in a completed version of what has already begun.