The Cross and the Heart

The Cross and the Heart:

Mark eight contains two points of interest relevant to the spirit of these studies. I wish to bring these points forward. These points are parts of larger issues, and while the larger issues are accorded due attention, these parts are often not viewed as important in their own right.

In Mark 8:15 Jesus charged his disciples, saying, “Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.” The disciples thought it was because they brought no bread. If ever a sentence was a parable, this was the one. What I wish to point out is the aftermath: the response of Jesus.

He said, in Mark 8:17, “Perceive ye not yet, neither understand? Have ye your heart yet hardened?” We come close, here, to a definition of a 'hardened heart'. Normally, we think of this in terms of Pharaoh's resistance to Moses. We view him as contrary, and as obstinate. Now, according to this response of Jesus to his disciples, we may see the hardened heart as the condition of being obtuse. A hardened heart is simply a matter of not being perceptive, of failing to understand. It is a matter of the mind: wholly spiritual.

How had they failed to understand? They thought of physical bread rather than spiritual leaven. They jumped to the ordinary and comfortable conclusions of the world. It is no understatement to say that human nature is predisposed to a worldly and physical take on new information. If I said, 'heaven is blue', your first thoughts would be of a blue sky. After all, you've seen that often enough, and you associate heaven with a skyward direction. It will likely be a secondary consideration that I meant 'blue' as sad and 'heaven' as the kingdom of God. A hardened heart is a solid worldly preconception.

The other point I wish to bring forward is found in Mark 8:31-34. Jesus plainly tells his disciples what he is about to go through and what he must endure physically to achieve his spiritual goal. Peter pulls him around to rebuke him – likely to say something on the order of 'we won't let that happen; we'll protect you'. So, Jesus faces the other disciples (turns his back on Peter) and says, in Mark 8:33, “Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.” Again, we see the physical world-view at work. The things that be of men stand in stark opposition to the things that be of God.

I digress; I am still getting to the point. That point is found in Mark 8:34. After his exchange with Peter, and possibly as a result of it, Jesus called everyone together to speak to them as a whole. It is likely that Jesus stood apart with his disciples for the exchange with Peter, then called over the multitude, who were lounging at a distance waiting for something to happen. In Mark 8:34, Jesus said to everyone, “Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”

This is the point: The disciples had not yet experienced the crucifixion of Christ, not that he was speaking to them alone, yet the Roman cross was well-known in the time of Jesus. It may have found its way into the common language and thoughts. It may have figured into local metaphors. Somewhere in the backs of their minds, all of them may have thought it a real possibility they end up on a cross. It may have been in the common usage that a cross represented the thankless and pay-less struggles of their everyday physical existence.

Christ said two things to them. One was, 'if you want to be like me' (come after me), meaning, as I think he did, 'if you want to be spiritual'. The second was, follow me, or in other words, 'do as I do.' If “take up your cross” was common enough to be understood by all who listened, what might it have meant to them? Jesus told them, if you want to be like me, approach these common worldly difficulties, not as things that will defeat you, but as a means to a higher spiritual victory.