“Contradicting the dominant way of the world is what following Jesus on the demanding road of discipleship is about. We walk that road shouldering our cross, not our rifle. That is the enduring model of discipleship. The way of Christian discipleship is to deny the primal but fallen instinct to prioritize our own security and self-interest, and to voluntarily imitate what Jesus did with the cross. In Christian discipleship, the cross is not only something Jesus did for us, but also the pattern we are to follow. As Christians, we don’t just stand on the sidelines and watch Jesus carry his cross. No, we fall in behind and carry our own cross. The cross is the call to self-denial for the sake of imitating Christ. For most of us, the cross of self-denial for the sake of Christ will not lead to actual martyrdom at the hands of the enemies of truth, but for some it will. And for every Christian, the possibility of martyrdom is always on the table. Indeed, in the Greek New Testament, the word for witness (martys) is also the word for martyr. The call to be a witness for Christ is by implication a call to the possibility of being his martyr.”
Brian Zahnd, The Wood Between the Worlds: A Poetic Theology of the Cross. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2024, page 47.
Related posts:
Pastor Note #107: Violence and the Kingdom of God: a Sermon
Pastor Note #113: The Real Danger Facing the Witness of the Church
Pastor Note #132: Anger and Following Jesus
Pastor Note #109: Living as Hopeful People in Fearful Times
Pastor Note #104: Partisan Politics, the American Church, and the Kingdom of God
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Gary Chorpenning's Notebooks 