Jesus Foretells His Future : Jesus 's Future

Jesus then goes from speaking to His disciples specifically, to calling out to the whole crowd, in which He goes from speaking plainly to once again speaking in metaphors and riddles. Within this passage Mark uses the words of Jesus to reveal the true cost of discipleship. He tells the crowd that if anyone chooses to come after Him then the condition of that decision is that they must take up their cross and follow Him. So one must ask: What does it mean to deny yourself? What does it mean to take up your cross? And when you follow Him where are you going? So then one must put this into context by looking at what has not yet happened in Mark. When Jesus denies Himself, He is essentially denying the human instinct to self preserve through a fight or flight response. When Jesus picked up His cross, He was deciding to be rejected, tortured, mocked and falsely accused on His way to Calvary where He died for the sins of all. Therefore, if you want to go after Jesus, you must be willing to commit to sharing the gospel with others at all costs, you must be willing to tortured, mocked, and falsely accused and you must also be willing to die, not necessarily for anything that you have done, but so that others can reach salvation. Historically, during this time period, the cross was a well known style of execution in Rome, and so although one reading this might see this as simply a metaphor, it is actually a foreshadowing of reality, which can be seen in the fact that all the

This statement by Jesus is also coming at a time when His arrest and death are nearing. This statement is sandwiched right in between Jesus’ promise of the Holy Spirit to his disciples, and His

Jesus of Nazareth was seen as threat to the Roman Empire. They believed he would cause uproar since he proclaimed he was the son of God. With this title, Jesus would of had more power than the Roman Empire itself. Proclaiming this also made him a threat to the Jewish community in Jerusalem. The Jews believed that a Messiah would be sent to rescue them and deliver peace in harmony in Israel. Unfortunately, they did not believe Jesus was it. With both groups, they mistreated and ridicule Jesus and crucified him.

As you can probably guess, this made a lot of people dislike Jews. The Jews can’t possibly be responsible for Jesus’s crucifixion, because their method of murder wasn’t crucifixion, but instead stoning. It would be more reasonable to blame Romans for His death because crucifixion was a method of killing for them. Crucifixion is a method of a slow, painful death where you are hung on a cross using nails and left there to die. This rumor, even though it isn’t reasonable, is the cause of the majority of Christian anti-semitism. The New Testament calls Jews the enemies of the rest of

The Jews did not have a big motive to kill Jesus, certainly they just lacked motive for killing Jesus. He was accused of saying himself Son of God, blasphemed. Indeed, according to the various historians, the Jewish Community i.e. Pharisees, Essenes and the Sadducees, had many disagreements. These disagreements did not allow them to punish other heretical leaders and therefore they targeted Jesus. The Pharisees were of the religious

They had enjoyed a time of fellowship with Jesus and teaching from Him. But He was now preparing them to understand that he was going to leave them. This was one of the factors that were going to turn these believers world upside down and bring and opportunity to turn the world upside down. Because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, “The Son of Man is

They remembered the words that were told them, returned to tell the disciples, and not only them but all the rest. On the way, Jesus met them and said All hail. They came and held Him by the feet worshiping Him. Christ told them to not be afraid, but continue on and tell His brethren to meet Him in Galilee.

Somebody once said “Love is proved by deeds!” – in the moment of death, in crisis, and feeling hopeless, most of Jesus disciples were somewhere else. Only these very few stayed until the end.

Many people hold biased opinions against the Bible’s authenticity; however, fulfilled prophecies, historical evidence, and the writings of non-biblical, pagan historians verify the Bible’s accuracy.

The Gospel of John written by the one and only John the apostle, son of Zebedee was written for the purpose to prove that Jesus was the son of God and to give the gospel of eternal life. Focusing on chapter 16 verse four through 15 Jesus and his disciples are in the upper room sharing their last supper together. In the previous chapters Jesus is advising their disciples and giving them insight on how others that do not know Jesus will respond to the gospel that they will deliver. He also explains to them where, why and when he will be leaving them and made sure that the disciples knew that the Spirit would come to be with them in place of Jesus himself therefore the disciples should maintain peace and perseverance of the Gospels ministry.

Study of Jesus, the historical and biblical survey being synchronous, is not simple. Understanding of the Bible and ascribing to its’ truths requires not only faith but time and an attentive and open heart willing and ready to listen. Of understanding the authentic Jesus of the Bible, James Breech observes the following: “Those who really have something significant to say are usually best able to keep silence. Jesus does not impose himself, does not raise his voice, but is keeping silent until the audience is prepared to listen. For those who are willing to pay attention, I hope the voice which originally uttered these parables and sayings will be heard once again, revealing its elusive reality.” Until we listen, we will not hear and until

In Mark 8 34-38, it reads: Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.” This

Furthermore, in Matthew 8:21-22, is the account Matthew gave in regards to the “Cost of following Jesus”: In this passage, one of His disciples said to him, “Lord let me first go and bury my father” (Matthew 8:21) but Jesus responded by saying, “let the dead bury their own dead” (Matthew 8:22). The answer Jesus gave meant that, believers must never make excuses, when it comes to following Him; there is no better time than the present.

The concept of ‘seeing’ the ways of Jesus and that He is the Messiah, is to truly understand the message being portrayed throughout the Gospel, and not the surface meaning that is being represented literally. This concept was very significant to Jesus and his followers as to interpret the meaning without being said, most parables being related to the Kingdom of God and Jesus’ miracle stories. Times were harsh and difficult to spread and teach the words of Jesus, as Mark’s community would face persecution. The disciples of Jesus could ‘see’ more than other believers could perceive, from being apart of Jesus’ life with close relationships, as they were taught the fundamentals from Jesus himself to understand his teachings in much more depth and fluency than others. There were many similarities among Jesus’ twelve disciples and Mark’s community, as both groups share the strong faith in Jesus and God’s power by spreading the good news to others as well as experiencing hardships caused by arrogant hierarchy and society. According to Mark, Jesus was known for his parables and

According to the words of Jesus recorded in Mark 8:31-33, it is evidently clear that Jesus believed that his fate was already sealed. In other words, he did not have the power to choose what he would have loved to happen in his life. In verse 31 of the same chapter, Jesus says that the Son of Man must undergo suffering and the elders must reject him"¦.and that he must be killed"¦