And to all he said, "If anyone wishes to be a follower of mine, he must leave self behind. Day after day he must leave self behind and come with me. Whoever cares for his own safety is lost, but if a man will let himself be lost for my sake, that man is safe."
3 comments:
"He who would save his life shall lose it!"
"Um, then if I try to save my life I'll be in deepshit, so if I really want to save my life I should act like I don't want to-- and that'll be the best way to save it, right?"
There are some great koans in this book!!!
Trying to save my life by pretending I''m not trying to save my life has always worked for me. I’m still alive. I’ve made it. Not accounting for quality.
I’m thinking that Jesus speaks here of his own life. He’s giving away (dying to) the false success of public announcements of being the Messiah and a call to arms. He’ll die. To that. Hasn’t Jesus faced this question during the desert temptations? Isn’t now the ‘opportune time’ for the same temptation of the will to power to resurface? “Hunt ‘em down, smoke ‘em out!”
The cross of death really is rebellion against established authority. Death isn’t the aim of ethics of resistance. It’s the fruit. Even if some don't die and instead live to ripe old ages to have really bad dreams of the end, like the Revelation.
So as the next passage says... If he were to "survive" by betraying his mission, it would be utterly worthless. He isn't going to try to live as the wrong Messiah.
I didn't really apply this to him before; hmmmm!!!
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