Friday in the Sixth Week of Ordinary Time, February 17, 2023

Mark 8, 34--9, 1

Jesus summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the Gospel will save it. What profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? What could one give in exchange for his life? Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this faithless and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.” He also said to them, “Amen, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the Kingdom of God has come in power.”

The Greek word translated here as “deny” also has the meanings of “disregard” and “disown”.  The Lord makes an enormous demand here.  He does not say, Whoever wishes to fight for the Kingdom, or, Whoever wishes to be saved.  This raggedy carpenter from Nazareth who was known as a healer told those who wanted to “follow” him —he does not even say his teachings — that they had to turn their backs on their former lives, occupations, interests, and even families.  They must make him the center of their lives.  More than this, they had to “take up his cross, and follow me.”  Nowadays when we speak of crosses to be carried, we mean difficulties in our lives, some bigger than others.  But to those to whom he spoke, and to every believer since, he is saying that we must sell out for him, accepting the worst death for his sake.  But he enables us to do this.  He shoulders his cross alone, but he helps us carry ours.  He equates the failure to do this as being “ashamed” of him, and warns us that on the day is second coming he will look at us, the trembling servant who buried his master’s talent, and express his shame of us.  In contrast, those who truly follow the Gospel will find themselves in “his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”  Prayer is an essential part of our giving ourselves to Christ as he wants us to.  The more we pray, and the more fervently we pray, the more we are able to conform ourselves to his holy will for us.

“Amen, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the Kingdom of God has come in power.”  The Lord adds these words to comfort those to whom he has spoken these hard words.  The Fathers understand “tasting” death as experiencing its bitterness, that is, the complete and final separation of the sinner from his fellows and from the pleasures they enjoyed, but also the separation of the sinner from the God who sent his Son to die for him and who offered him multiple chances to repent.  The just do not “taste” death but know it as the palace doorway into heaven.