Mark 8
Verses 34 – 38
Verse 34
“…Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”
Verse 35
“For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.”
Verse 36
“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
Verse 37
“Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
Verse 38
“For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”
Jesus continues His encouragement to His disciples and the crowd as a whole in verse 38. Here His tone is emphatic. No parable or hidden meaning. Whoever means just that. If we are ashamed to tell others about Jesus to the world around us. Jesus will be ashamed of us when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.
Jesus expects us to love Him as the Father and He loves us. If we are ashamed of Him it is because we do not truly love Him and we take the gift of salvation as a meaningless event in our lives.