I made the decision last year to start writing theologically again. I never intended for it to be primarily informed by my devotional life, but I’m realizing it keeps bringing things up to the top.

It was several years ago, 2019 I think, when I decided to preach 100% from the gospels. This exploration began with what we called "The Year of Jesus," a year of preaching many different parts of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

It was in the research for one of those messages that I stumbled across this article from Bob Sorge.1 It made the claim that only one deliberate teaching of Jesus is found in all four Gospels. I didn’t believe it, but after a quick look over the idea years ago and 5 years of really consistent, deep reading of the Gospels, I now 100% agree with the article.

• It isn’t about parables. A few of them make it into all four.

• It isn’t a specific miracle.

• It isn’t a broad theme, such as love or faithfulness.

Remember. A deliberate teaching of Jesus.

What is it?

“Lose yourself to find yourself."

That’s a quick approximation, but these six verses are deliberate references.

Matthew 10:39, 16:25, Mark 8:35, Luke 9:24, Luke 17:33, John 12:25

I find that the teaching is echoed in a few other passages. In the last 18 months, with my weird Bible note-taking approach (I’ve got a whole YouTube channel pretty much devoted to this), I’m finding more echo points across scripture. Here are a few.

Matt 18:1-5, 11:11, Mark 9:33-37, Luke 14:33, 18:29-30. 2

This doesn’t include Jesus' statements about lesser and greater either.

Karl Barth throws down this quote referencing Romans 2:15 and the idea of losing oneself as spiritual progress.

What is pleasing to God comes into being when all human righteousness is gone, irretrievably gone…3

But that’s the big picture. Today, I want to think about one of the specific references. It might be the place where Jesus teases out this message the best.

MARK 8:27-9:1

This is a classic situation, also told in Matthew 16 and Luke 9, from when Jesus visits Caesarea Phillipi. The scene first starts with Jesus talking only with His disciples.

Two things are key to this first part of the story, from 8:27 - 8:33.

The first is Jesus specifically speaking with and boldly instructing the disciples. The NIV translates this as “plainly” in v.32, but this doesn’t mean just simple; it means direct and clear communication. It is at this moment we come to the second interesting part of the story.

Peter and his rebuke.

The one with “get behind me, Satan” in it. This interaction has always been odd to me, especially how in vs. 29 Peter is confessing Jesus as the Christ. He gets it.

Then why call him Satan? (And how does this lead us to a better understanding of losing yourself)?

James Edwards, in his commentary on Mark (4), gets us there. Jesus isn’t calling Peter Satan, but he is speaking about the unique pull of a disciple. There is a total claim of allegiance on our part to following Jesus. One where we give up everything and relinquish the resources we have to depend on ourselves.

Peter is trying to stop Jesus from talking about His death. He resists the death that Jesus knows is coming. Jesus is preparing them for this event. To stop this suffering is a human attempt at conflicting with the things of God. I’m also catching weird echoes from the Garden of Gethsemane in this. It isn’t Jesus's idea, but the action He calls to in the Incarnation.

Edwards speaks of this theme of losing ourselves and taking up our cross with this statement.

For suffering is the only way to destroy the stronghold of Satan.5

Christ's suffering. Our new approach to life and our choice to embrace suffering make up the sacrifice we share. I like how Blake Adams talks about this Christian approach to suffering and sacrifice as an offering to God in a note from a few days ago.

Jesus ends up dropping a bomb on Peter and telling him, “You aren’t thinking big enough.”

Another Barth quote.

The observable superiority which one man has over another is only his person, his mask, his form, the part he has taken in the play.6​

Peter, as he usually does, reacts in the moment all over the place, but Jesus presses into Peter’s self-referencing.

The next part of the passage is when Jesus changes his focus from the disciples to the crowd. I’d like to read the passage assuming Jesus uses this pull as a way to actually answer Peter more. (He does that sometimes; look at the narrative shift from disciples > crowd or crowd > disciples in the Gospels).

Before Jesus gets to vs. 35, our “lose yourself” reference, Jesus starts telling the crowd to deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Him.

Two things.

1. Yes, Jesus is fully aware of the impending cross at this moment, but it is also a challenging enough image for him to tell the crowd before speaking of the radical self-denial of discipleship. We can’t let that one fall to the ground.
2. What Jesus is telling us is that the path of taking up the cross isn’t some religious grandstanding or virtue signaling. It’s subjecting yourself to the same idea of suffering as Christ.

Jesus finally gets to the big teaching moment in vs. 35.

For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.

It's simple to say, "Lose yourself to find yourself," and I admit I'm guilty of this. However, what Jesus teaches here and in the following verses goes far beyond a vague idea of self-understanding. It isn’t “Jesus Project Self." It is an absolute awareness that part of our call to discipleship is to realize we have no power in ourselves to generate any sort of salvation.

There is a quote found in Mt. Athos in Greece. On a monastery gateway.

“If you die before you die, then you won’t die when you die.”

When and where do we hit the moment of realization we can’t justify ourselves?

For those who are called to follow Jesus, we make that decision while we are still planted on Earth. We take on the banner of death because Jesus conquered death. We make the realization that we recognize someone over us in a supernatural and eternal way before we are faced with death.

Only when the believer finds no support save in God’s gift can hope come into its own. Anthony Kelly.7

Hooker tells us, in my own summary, that it’s not about confessing Jesus but following Jesus.8

That is the kicker right there.

The mere confession doesn’t let us go through the broken death of our sinfulness. It’s the following of Jesus Christ. We don’t just lose ourselves one time, but the journey of discipleship is one of constantly losing ourselves. It isn’t about humility. It isn’t about pride. It’s about everything in this human existence that wants to be at the center of all things.

To deny self-loss as the primary path to Jesus Christ is to say those same words to Jesus that Peter uttered.

“Hey, don’t you think you're taking this too seriously?”

In Luke 1:17, John the Baptist talks about “a people prepared for the Lord.” The best way to prepare our hearts to follow Jesus is to understand his teaching in Mark 8:34-37. This passage is key to grasping the heart of Jesus' offer of salvation.

I’ve been taking notes, saving references, journaling, and praying through this specific call of Jesus for the last 5 years. I hope it is one that always stays at the front of my eyes.

If this idea of “losing ourselves” is interesting, this is just my first dip into the water. Hit reply back to this email if you'd like more on this subject.