This is true to Christian discipleship. It requires personal encounter with Jesus Christ. To go after the Lord and persevere in following him presupposes a personal knowledge of him. No one follows a stranger much less an unseen ghost or an abstract idea. But one may even lay down one’s life for a friend.
Today’s gospel reading (Lk 9: 18-24), reveals the essential link between knowing Jesus and following him. Let this be our matter for reflection.
Knowing Jesus. “But who do you say that I am” (v 20)? Jesus’ follow-up question shows that he is not contented with the disciples’ knowledge of him that is based on mere opinion of others. The disciples have got to know him quite personally. This is very important.
There are two levels of knowing. One is conceptual, the other is experiential. Conceptual knowing is knowledge by the head. This is the process of understanding data and information about someone or something from different sources like books, lectures, researches, etc. This enhances understanding and satisfies curiosity. But the object of knowledge is nothing more than cold, abstract concepts that our minds formulate. It’s a real pity if we Christians relate to Jesus in this level. That would mean relating to a concept of Jesus. My sad suspicion is that a great number of us do religiously follow Jesus as an undoubtedly beautiful concept!
The experiential knowledge, on the other hand, involves knowing with the heart. This is knowledge beyond concepts. This is getting to know not just some information and data about someone or something; this is encountering the person himself or the thing itself. To know a person, for instance, in this level is to have a personal relationship with him, to experience the person himself, to be moved by his values, to be awed by his vision, to be contaminated by his joy, to be brought to tears by his deepest sorrow, etc. It is this experiential knowledge that has the power to draw one to a real friendship with another. It is this knowledge that elicits loyalty, love, sacrifice.
Do I know Jesus with this kind of knowledge? Do I know him with the heart? Can I give a confident answer to his question, “And YOU... who do YOU say I am?”
Following Jesus. Knowing Jesus with the heart is of utmost importance for discipleship. Again, no one follows a stranger and no one sheds his own blood for a cold concept. To follow Jesus requires that one identifies with his values, share with his vision, and embrace whatever that matters most to him.
Anyone who knows Jesus with the heart cannot but see the cross and its essential place in the life and mission of Jesus. The cross matters most to Jesus. To follow him, then, means to embrace his cross too! His declaration of this fact is as clear as daylight: “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (v. 23).
To take up the cross “daily” does not mean suffering a one-time crucifixion like Jesus did. Instead this refers to the challenge of a day-to-day denial of oneself and of consistent obedience to the Father’s will. To take up the cross daily means to make the cross and everything it represents a way of life. A Lifestyle.
A cross-less Christianity is, therefore, an abysmal emptiness! It’s nothing but vanity!
Christianity without the cross breeds these familiar kinds of discipleship: “the feel-good discipleship,” cheap discipleship, curiosity discipleship, prosperity discipleship, discipleship of privileges and benefits, discipleship of convenience, discipleship of power, and the like. All of these prosper because of a lack of a real and personal knowledge of Jesus. The cross is consciously or unconsciously given up because it is difficult, it is inconvenient and not seen as essential.
Can we then liken this cross-less band of followers of Jesus to the pack of dogs barking and chasing a sheep which they themselves did not see?
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