The End of the Chapter

11.23.12

Matthew 16.24-25 24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. 25 For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. NASB

Have you noticed that in the Gospels, Jesus usually saves the punch line for the end of the chapter? (I know you know how silly that sounds because when the Gospels were written there were no chapters and verses…I’m about to bite through my tongue because of how far it is rammed into my cheek…) Consider Matthew 11: “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Vv. 28-30 NASB)

Then there’s: Matt. 12.50: “For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.” (NASB) And then there’s: Matt. 13.56: “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.”  And then there’s Matthew 16.24 & 25: If anyone wishes; for whoever wishes… Wishing is desire formulated in the mind – if you wish to do something, you can. Not all desires come to fruition but most do and can: I wish for a cup of coffee; I wish for crackers with my tomato soup. I wish to be your friend. There is a difference between wishing and hope. Wishing is the precursor to action.

If it was a done-deal Jesus would have said: Anyone who hopes to be My disciple, My disciple he shall be! Wishing is desire that may or may not be fulfilled: there may not be crackers available for the tomato soup. Hope on the other hand is a fixed expectation of something that will happen. To place our hope in Christ is to believe in everything He said/says, and expect it to happen. That’s why worry is so, so wrong. If the Lord says it’s going to happen, then it’s going to happen; and we can place our firm and finished expectation on it happening.

Wishing is something that requires me. Wishing is my desire being fulfilled by my taking action on my desire. Hope is up to Jesus; wishing is up to me. But there is a price to be paid for both. Hope is a firm and unshakable expectation of what is to come but putting up with nay-sayers and the accompanying derision is a price that’s likely to be paid. And Jesus said, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” Cross-carrying is a tough business but vital to the success of the disciple who’s taken action to be the follower of Jesus.

My wishing is fulfilled when my hope takes Jesus at His word. Cross-carrying is the requirement of the wisher who desires to believe and become a fisher (of men). There are no shortcuts to the wisher who wants to follow after Jesus and save his life. Life-losing for Jesus is part of the deal as well…

Father in Heaven, my wishes are fulfilled as I hope in Jesus. Make the callouses on my shoulders deep as I carry my cross for Him! Amen.