This week, we tease out the tension between “living a good Christian life” as has been come to be defined by the white, straight, conservative status quo and the consequences of following Jesus’s message. We also look at “taking up your” cross and what that means. Following Christ is risky, but in the end, we think it’s worth it.

We’re tackling the politics of Jesus all Lent long. Sign up for updates to stay in the loop! We’re also reading The Last Week, a book about the meaning and political implications of Jesus’s life, ministry and in particular his death and resurrection, in Sanctuary Collective. You’re invited to join!

Read the transcript (PDF)

Mark 8:31-38

Then Jesus began to teach his disciples: “The Human One must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and the legal experts, and be killed, and then, after three days, rise from the dead.” He said this plainly. But Peter took hold of Jesus and, scolding him, began to correct him. Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, then sternly corrected Peter: “Get behind me, Satan. You are not thinking God’s thoughts but human thoughts.”

After calling the crowd together with his disciples, Jesus said to them, “All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross, and follow me. All who want to save their lives will lose them. But all who lose their lives because of me and because of the good news will save them. Why would people gain the whole world but lose their lives? What will people give in exchange for their lives? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this unfaithful and sinful generation, the Human One will be ashamed of that person when he comes in the Father’s glory with the holy angels.

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The post What will you give in exchange for your life? – Mark 8:31-38 appeared first on Queer Theology.