Follow Me. Go...

Mark 16 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, so that they might come and anoint Him. ² Very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. ³ They were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” ⁴ Looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, although it was extremely large. ⁵ Entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe; and they were amazed. ⁶ And he said to them, “Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here; behold, here is the place where they laid Him. ⁷ But go, tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see Him, just as He told you.’” ⁸ They went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had gripped them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

⁹ Now after He had risen early on the first day of the week, He first appeared to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast out seven demons. ¹⁰ She went and reported to those who had been with Him, while they were mourning and weeping. ¹¹ When they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they refused to believe it.

¹² After that, He appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking along on their way to the country. ¹³ They went away and reported it to the others, but they did not believe them either.

¹⁴ Afterward He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table; and He reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had risen. ¹⁵ And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. ¹⁶ He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. ¹⁷ These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; ¹⁸ they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

¹⁹ So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. ²⁰ And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the word by the signs that followed.

And they promptly reported all these instructions to Peter and his companions. And after that, Jesus Himself sent out through them from east to west the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation.

In Mark 8:34-35 Jesus says:  “If anyone wishes to come after (follow) Me, he must deny himself, and 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 the gospel’s will save it.”    Many people believe that an important element of the Christian life is to live a life of denial, sacrifice and suffering. It is true, there may be some of all of that in the Christian life, but it is self we are to deny. We are to lose our own life for Christ’s sake. The life we have saved, for Christ and the gospel, is no longer a life of denial but as Jesus says in John 10:10: “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”  It was the cross of Jesus, on which the sins of the world were born. It was Jesus who suffered and sacrificed Himself on His cross for our sins. It is not the cross of Christ which we take up, but our own cross, to deny our selfish desires and ambitions and live for Him.

This was not the first time that Jesus called others to follow Him. When He called the disciples that’s what He said: “Follow Me.” (Matthew 9:9, Mark 2:14, Luke 5:28, John 1:45)  In Matthew 4:19 He said:  "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."  So following Jesus is living with Him and for Him. It is doing what He did. Many people though live their lives attempting to follow Jesus the man. They model their own lives after Him, loving and serving others, showing compassion to the outcasts and unlovely. This too is only part of what Jesus asks of us, when He calls us to follow Him. If we are to be fishers of men, then our love, compassion and serving others, is not all that we do. Rather, it is what we do to attract them to Christ. If we are to follow Him and do what He did, then like Him, we need to say as He did:   "I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." (Luke 5:32)  Loving, serving and showing compassion to others, does them little or no good if we don’t also call them to repent.   Jesus says: “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:36)

In today’s text it says:  Now after He had risen early on the first day of the week, He first appeared to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast out seven demons.  She went and reported to those who had been with Him, while they were mourning and weeping. When they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they refused to believe it. After that, He appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking along on their way to the country. They went away and reported it to the others, but they did not believe them either. Afterward He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table; and He reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had risen.   If we would follow Christ, we must follow Him, not only in the way He lived as a man. We must not only follow Him to His cross or even in taking up our own. We must follow Him to the grave, where sin was laid down once for all. Then though, we must also see that the grave is empty. We must believe and we must tell others He has risen. It is only in believing the grave is empty, that He has risen, that we can truly follow Him. Jesus says:  “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”     To follow Jesus, we must go for Him. We must continue in the things He came to do while He was here.

The text says:  So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the word by the signs that followed.   One day we will follow Him to the eternal presence of the Father in heaven. But for now, as we do what He called us to do, His power and His presence will follow us. Jesus taught us to pray saying:

 “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.  ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. ‘Give us this day our daily bread. ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.”  Amen. I will follow You.  Amen.