And it should be observed in the first place that this condition of discipleship was laid down by our adorable Lord at a most important juncture in the history of His presentation to Israel as their Messiah. It was, in fact, the hour when His claims were definitely refused by His chosen people, and when He began to commune with His disciples concerning the death He must accomplish at Jerusalem. The Holy Ghost in the Gospel of Matthew traces very minutely the growth of the spirit of opposition to the Christ, commencing with the unuttered but malicious thoughts of some bigoted scribes, at the healing of the sick of the palsy in Capernaum. (“This man blasphemeth” is their wicked though inward comment, 10:3.) Such evil thoughts grew and multiplied exceedingly, until the chapter before us shows that men generally had entirely disavowed the true character of His person. For instance, after a double proof was given (14:15-21; 15:32-39) that Jehovah, according to the promise of old (Psa. 132:1515I will abundantly bless her provision: I will satisfy her poor with bread. (Psalm 132:15)), was in the midst of His people, abundantly blessing their provision, and satisfying their poor with bread, the Pharisees and Scribes, forgetting their mutual animosities, unite in tempting the Lord to display a sign from heaven, presumably for their own especial benefit (16:1-6). As if, forsooth, the unmistakeable signs of power and grace wrought again and again before their eyes were not from above but from beneath. To this horrid suggestion of hypocrisy and unbelief, the Lord replies only by exposing their determination to remain in unbelief, which underlay this action; and then He significantly left them in the hardness of their hearts.
But surely the hearts of His chosen witnesses, who were admitted into the intimacies of His private as well as public life, were proof against every suggestion of unbelief! Alas! the next scene shows the exact contrary (16:7-12). These men who were associated with the Lord in the miraculous multiplication of the loaves to feed the five and the four thousand, were so destitute of faith as to attribute to the Lord an anxious concern because there was no bread in the boat. If this was not sheer perversity, as in the previous ease, it was at any rate the densest and most inexcusable ignorance. And while unbelief was thus swaying His followers, as well as His foes, the opinion of the multitude at large was that He was anybody but the Person He really claimed to be (16:13-14). So that this chapter indicates in a threefold form the pregnant fact that the judgment of flesh and blood had pronounced that Jesus was not the Lord from heaven. Immediately after, however, Simon Barjona, specially illuminated by a revelation of the Father, testified that He was the Son of the living God (16:15-17). And at this same point also the Lord, after referring to the future church, began to speak of His coming death at Jerusalem. Here He entered as it were the shadow of the cross; for “from that time forth began Jesus to show unto His disciples, how that He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised again the third day” (16:21). And if the Master's life on earth was thus to terminate in a climax of suffering from the hand of man, were the disciples to expect to be entirely exempt from sharing such a painful path? Indeed, when the Lord found the religious parties of men allied in unbelief against Him, He at once looked onward to the church He was going to build, to bear His name in the world (John 17:1818As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. (John 17:18)), to suffer with Him here, and finally to reign with Him in glory (1 Tim. 2:1212But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. (1 Timothy 2:12)). In fact if such a spiritual edifice was to be reared, against which the gates of Hades should not prevail, He, the ever living Founder and the immutable Foundation, must necessarily be crucified as a victim to the spite and envy of the chief priests and scribes. This prospect, foreign as it is to all human notions, passed the comprehension of Peter—that the way of the Son of the living God to glory and victory should be through suffering and defeat was more than he could receive even from divine lips. And, in an excess of ignorant zeal, he put forth his hand like Uzzah of old to steady the tottering ark of God (2 Sam. 6:66And when they came to Nachon's threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it. (2 Samuel 6:6)). But the Lord at once unmasks the true character of this rebuke of Peter, which savored of human things, and not divine. Though coming as it did in the form of a disciple's solicitude for his master, it was none the less a distinct attempt on the part of Satan to bar the progress of the Lord to the cross, where the power of darkness was to be overthrown.
The Lord however avoided the stumbling-block, and proceeded to state definitely to His disciples, and indeed to “all” (Luke 9:2323And 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. (Luke 9:23)), for it was a general principle, “If any man will come after Me, let him, deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” See also chap. xiv. 27.
Can it be possible to mistake the meaning of “taking up the cross,” when so closely connected as it is with self-denial, and the following of Jesus? For it is plainly manifest from the passage, that there can be no true discipleship without denying one's self, and following the Lord. But self-mortification, whipping, and other monkish habits, though they may be a species of self-denial, certainly are not the cross-bearing of the gospel. And on the other hand the cross worn by the Crusaders of old, far from being coupled with the self-denial of the text, was actually opposed to the true cross of Christ, serving only as a cloak for the indulgence of the worst and most selfish of human passions. As a matter of fact, the true character of the cross, as well as of self-denial, is sufficiently determined by the Lord's injunction, “Follow Me.” For whatever interferes with consistent discipleship is to be given up in order to follow Him. And whatever burden of obloquy falls upon one faithful to Christ constitutes the cross to be taken up for His sake.
In the Gospel of Mark a case in point is given. The virtuous youth, who earnestly sought to know from our Lord how to inherit eternal life, was a most commendable example of human morality, so much so, that “Jesus, beholding him, loved him” Surely then he would make an admirable recruit for the ranks of the disciples! Not so; for though he did not lack zeal, obedience to the, law, or appreciation of the Lord as a teacher, he lacked that which would make him a follower of Jesus. “Go thy way,” said the Lord to test him, “sell whatsoever thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.” But we are told “he was sad at that saying and went away grieved; for he had great possessions” (Mark 10:21-2221Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me. 22And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions. (Mark 10:21‑22)). Self-denial, the first requisite of a disciple, was lacking; for at any rate he loved his riches too well to discard them at the bidding of a prophet of Nazareth. Nor is it at all necessary to suppose he was a miserly man, yet, it is quite clear he did not find sufficient attraction in the person of Jesus, or sufficient authority in His words, to counter-balance his regard for his store of earthly treasure. And at this point it is important to observe that “taking up the cross” was not covered by parting with the whole of his possessions for charitable purposes. After yielding up that which men learn to love next to (if. not as well as) life, he was then to take up his cross and follow Jesus. For philanthropy is in no sense, even when extended to its utmost limits as in this case, synonymous with carrying the cross of Christ. Besides foregoing his abundance and luxury, he was called to associate himself with One Who was a reproach among men, and despised of the people (Psa. 22:66But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people. (Psalm 22:6)), Who was a butt and a byword for those that sat in authority, as well as the song of the drunkard (Psa. 69:1212They that sit in the gate speak against me; and I was the song of the drunkards. (Psalm 69:12)). By following such a One, he would utterly lose his position of honor and esteem in the eyes of his religious patrons and teachers. Socially, politically, and religiously, he would be regarded as a leprous outcast, whose love and good works would be rewarded, like his Master's, with hatred without a cause (Psa. 109:5; 69:45And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love. (Psalm 109:5)
4They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away. (Psalm 69:4)). He would be reviled, persecuted, and maligned for Christ's sake (Matt. 5:1111Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. (Matthew 5:11)). In short, he would become the focus of general scorn and contempt, and that simply and solely because he followed this despised and rejected Nazarene. All this and more was implied in the words “Take up the cross and follow Me.” The heart of the young man shrank from such a prospect. And who indeed could bear a cross so galling to man's nature without knowing the attractive glories of the Person Who demanded endurance of such a kind? Little wonder that he departed in sadness.
The instance however makes it very clear that the burden of the cross is inseparably connected with following Jesus, yet quite distinct from the renunciation of personal property. In fact the cross-laden disciple is he who is repudiated by the world as his Master was. (Continued from page 330.)