Losing Your Life – Luke 9:18-27

Renovare.org has a wonderful excerpt from C. S. Lewis’ book, Mere Christianity, where he talks about personality and losing our lives:  “Give up your self, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Sub­mit to death, death of your ambi­tions and favourite wish­es every day and death of your whole body in the end: sub­mit with every fibre of your being, and you will find eter­nal life. Keep back noth­ing. Noth­ing that you have not giv­en away will ever be real­ly yours. Noth­ing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for your­self, and you will find in the long run only hatred, lone­li­ness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him every­thing else thrown in.”

Now it happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him.  And he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”  And they answered, “John the Baptist.  But others say, Elijah, and others, that one of the prophets of old has risen.”  Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”  And Peter answered, “The Christ of God.”

And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.  for whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.  For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?  For whoever is ashamed of me and of may words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.  But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:18-27)

If anyone should be clear about who Jesus is it is his disciples.  And Peter speaks correctly for all the disciples when he identifies Jesus as the Messiah, the one promised by the Father to redeem Israel.  But surprisingly Jesus restricts them from broadcasting this.  Israel expected Messiah to overthrow Rome, but Jesus first had to suffer death at Israel’s hand and then be resurrected.

In light of his suffering Jesus challenges his followers that they too must be ready to suffer, ready to carry their cross to their own execution on any given day.  To prefer to save one’s own life physically instead is to actually lose it spiritually speaking.  But if you are willing to lose your life for Jesus physically, you will spiritually save it.  There is no physical reward worth losing your soul over.  And if you are ashamed of Jesus you will lose him when he comes in glory.

As Jesus anticipates the glory he will come in on a future day, he mysteriously notes that some of them will see this glory before they die, setting them up for the transfiguration that is about to take place.