He 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.” (Mk 8:34-9:1)
This utterance of Jesus challenges all believers to authentic discipleship and total commitment to himself through self-renunciation and acceptance of the cross of suffering, even to the sacrifice of life itself. “Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it . . . will save it”. This is an expression of a reality that exists in the world. There is hesitancy or double mindedness with regard to life but life has a contrasting destiny. Life, when self-centered and lived in denial of Christ, ends in destruction; but when lived in loyalty to Christ then life arrives at fullness.
This passage has a dense and cryptic way of talking. It looks like a poetic way of saying something very important. Jesus is warning his disciples that this is how he understands his vocation and destiny as Israel’s messiah. The disciples should be ready to follow his foot steps.
There are some who are here and they will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God appear in power. By this Jesus does not mean that this ‘space-time world’ will end within this generation. The coming of God’s kingdom with power has a lot more to do with the radical defeat of deep-rooted evil. Jesus seems to think that evil will be defeated, and the kingdom will come, precisely through his own suffering and death and resurrection.
