Then Jesus told his disciples: if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. The discipleship requirement that follows the first passion prediction: self-denial, cross-taking, and following. The cross was not a metaphor in the first century but an instrument of Roman execution — the disciples who heard this knew what carrying a cross meant. The self-denial that takes up the cross is the discipleship that follows the suffering Christ rather than the triumphant messiah Peter envisioned.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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