Matthew 16:24 English Standard Version

Take Up Your Cross and Follow Jesus

²⁴ Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Here is an answer to what Jesus meant when He said “if anyone would come after me.”

John 14:12 English Standard Version (ESV) “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.

I will not limit God’s ability to speak meaning into a disciple’s heart as to any personal meaning. This is why I said, here is an answer, not the answer.

Jesus was going to be with the Father and would not be coming again until the end of the church age. As such we come after Christ to perform the duties of church age priests. “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.” Heb.7:17

This is an order, i.e. disciples, which has a continuing duty to serve the people after the likeness of the founder.

Now is the time to address our personal cross which we must take up. Our cross is not the cross of Christ. That cross was the symbol of His propitiation for us and the forgiveness of all sin. Our personal cross cannot replicate the act of God performed that day. It is a personal symbol for making personal sacrifices in our lives. Those sacrifices do nothing to save our soul but rather indicates a preference for the needs of others over our own needs.

Carry the cross with humility, never ask anyone to carry it. If we crumble under the weight of it another Simon will come along by the grace of God, to help. We bare one another’s burdens in this way.

As this is one answer, do not allow it to limit God’s ability to speak to us in personal perspectives.

Matthew 16:24 English Standard Version

Take Up Your Cross and Follow Jesus

²⁴ Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Do not answer the question posed yesterday until Jesus asks.

What happened in all the passages before these Disciples of Christ were asked this very question?

Matthew 9:9 English Standard Version

Jesus Calls Matthew

⁹ As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

It would appear that Matthew understood what Jesus was saying to him in that moment. There was no debating over what was to come next or what it would cost Matthew to leave his job. We do not know what was going on in Matthew’s life at that time. We can gather from the scriptures how people felt about Jews who were tax collectors. We can only imagine what stirred Matthew to get up and leave his job.

The larger point here is that Jesus said follow me. There was no historical significance for Matthew in what was to come next. He just obeyed.  We have the sayings, deeds, conflicts, observations, teachings, parables, conclusions and consequences that occurred before Jesus got around to asking this question in Matthew 16:24.

These men followed Jesus for some time and endured many things before He ask them the question “If anyone would come after me”. Note that Jesus did not say if anyone would follow me because they were already following Jesus. Coming after Jesus has a meaning that is more substantial than simply following Jesus. We should consider that before we answer the question and we should definitely wait on Him to ask it of us.