Mark 8:34

Taking Up One’s Cross to Follow Jesus

34 And summoning the crowd together with his disciples, he said to them, "If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Mark 8:34 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 8:34

And when he had called the people unto him
Who, it seems, followed him out of Galilee, from Bethsaida, and these parts; for it was in the way from thence to Caesarea Philippi, that Christ had this conversation with his disciples; who walked together alone, the multitude following at some distance; and the private conversation being ended, Christ called, or beckoned to the people, to come nearer to him:

with his disciples also;
for what he was about to say, concerned them both:

whosoever will come after me;
in a spiritual sense, as this multitude did in a natural one, and which is the same as to be a disciple of his:

let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me;
signifying, that his followers must deny themselves of worldly advantages, and suffer many things, as well as he, which he had been but just before acquainting his disciples with; (See Gill on Matthew 16:24).

Mark 8:34 In-Context

32 And he was speaking openly [about] the subject, and Peter took him aside [and] began to rebuke him.

33 But turning around and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan, because you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but the things of people!"

34 And summoning the crowd together with his disciples, he said to them, "If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life on account of me and of the gospel will save it.

36 For what does it benefit a person to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?

Footnotes

• [a]. Some manuscripts have "to follow"