Luke 9:23

Taking Up One’s Cross to Follow Jesus

23 And he said to [them] all, "If anyone wants to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross every day and follow me.

Luke 9:23 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 9:23

And he said to them all
Not only to all the disciples, but "to the multitude", as the Arabic version renders it, who were now called unto him, with his disciples, as is clear from ( Mark 8:34 ) ,

any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his
cross daily, and follow me;
the same is said here, as in ( Matthew 16:24 ) ( Mark 8:34 ) , (See Gill on Matthew 16:24), (See Gill on Mark 8:34), only here the word, "daily", is added; and which, though as Beza observes, is not in the Complutensian edition, nor in five ancient copies; yet is in others, and in the Vulgate Latin, and in all the Oriental versions; and to be retained, as having a very considerable emphasis in it; showing that afflictions, trials, and persecutions of one sort or another, are to be expected every day by the people of God, and to be continually submitted to, and borne with cheerfulness.

Luke 9:23 In-Context

21 But he warned [and] commanded them to tell this to no one,

22 saying, "It is necessary [for] the Son of Man to suffer many [things] and to be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and to be killed, and to be raised on the third day.

23 And he said to [them] all, "If anyone wants to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross every day and follow me.

24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life on account of me, this person will save it.

25 For what is a person benefited [if he] gains the whole world but loses or forfeits himself?