As gunfire sounded around them, Médine Moussounga and her sisters fled their home in the Democratic Republic of Congo, pushing their disabled father in a wheelbarrow.

They expected to return after a few days. Instead, they ended up living as refugees for 18 months. Some days, Médine walked 10 miles to find food for her family, crossing fields of army ants and snake-infested swamps. She found strength and solace through her deep faith in Christ.

Now my wife and partner in ministry, Médine has a testimony of God’s faithfulness that resonates with hurting people.

According to the Open Doors World Watch List 2023, 360 million Christians around the globe suffer high levels of persecution or discrimination because of their faith.

Yet many Americans associate Christianity with ease. In a 2023 study from Lifeway Research, 76% of Protestant churchgoers said, “God wants me to prosper financially.”

After U.S. soccer star Megan Rapinoe tore an Achilles tendon during her final career match, she remarked that the accident proved there isn’t a God.

To be sure, God still performs miracles and intervenes in the lives of people. But is exemption from hardship a realistic expectation of faith?

The Bible shows us real life — and following Jesus — entails hardship. The Cross itself illustrates that God forges His purposes on the anvil of suffering.

Rethinking Success

It’s easy for ordinary ministers to feel insecure around megachurch pastors and Christian celebrities. We know they are people just like us. But in a culture that prizes popularity and visibility, the idea that those in the spotlight are the most important can be difficult to resist.

The first disciples faced the same temptation. Jesus didn’t choose well-known individuals, but relative nobodies. As they considered Jesus’ coming kingdom, however, the disciples started competing with one another for greatness.

Throughout Mark’s Gospel, Jesus invites the disciples instead to embrace His posture — that of a suffering servant.

A protégé of Peter, Mark wrote his Gospel from Peter’s perspective. Starting with Peter’s calling (1:16–18), Mark follows Peter’s journey as he recognizes Jesus is the Messiah (8:29), denies Christ (14:66–72), and receives a promise of restoration (16:7).

Mark writes to a suffering audience. They survived persecution in Rome, when the emperor Nero was burning Christians alive as torches to illuminate his gardens at night. Some had friends who died for their faith. Others escaped martyrdom by denying Christ and now feel ashamed. Mark reminds them that Peter, whom many consider a hero, failed the first time, too.

Ultimately, the only real hero of the Christian faith is Jesus, who died to give us life. As for Peter, he matured to become the fisher of people Jesus called him to be — and so can we.

Mark’s original audience was Pentecostal. Baptism in the Holy Spirit is, of course, a joyful experience. But even before Mark introduces Peter, he reveals what Spirit-baptized Christians should expect.

Jesus baptizes in the Holy Spirit (1:8). During Jesus’ water baptism, the Spirit descended on Him (1:10). Jesus thus became the model for Spirit-filled living. Yet the Spirit immediately led Jesus into the wilderness for testing and conflict with Satan (1:12–13).

The rest of Mark’s Gospel recounts Jesus performing miracles through the Spirit’s power — and facing increasing opposition from Satan’s religious and political agents. Do we really want to follow Jesus in such a baptism (10:38)?

Suffering Servant

As I get to know Christian leaders I admire, I invariably discover they are a lot like me. Their gifts are from God, and they depend on His grace. They make mistakes and wrestle with fears and doubts. None of them is perfect like Jesus.

The Cross itself illustrates that God forges His purposes on the anvil of suffering.

Peter was in awe of Jesus — but not nearly as much as he should have been. It took the first half of Mark’s Gospel for Peter to confess, “You are the Messiah” (8:29). It took the second half for Peter and his fellow disciples to understand what Jesus’ mission would entail: dying on a Roman cross.

In fact, Peter’s development marks a turning point in Mark’s Gospel. When Peter proclaimed Him as Messiah, Jesus warned His disciples not to tell anyone (8:30). This fits Jesus’ pattern of controlling unnecessary publicity whenever possible (1:44; 3:12; 5:43; 7:24,36; 8:26).

One reason was the dangerous crowding surrounding Jesus’ ministry (1:45; 2:2–4; 3:9–10; 5:24; 6:31). Further, Jesus’ popularity made him a target of those who wanted all the attention for themselves (2:7; 3:6; 7:5; 15:10).

The biggest problem was politics. If people viewed Jesus as the messianic king, government officials would consider Him a threat to public order. This was because they did not understand the gospel Jesus preached.

God’s coming kingdom was the heart of Jesus’ message (1:15). The secret of the Kingdom (4:11), however, was Jesus’ identity as a suffering servant. The Cross would publicly proclaim the nature of Jesus’ kingship (15:26).

Crucified King

When Jesus’ contemporaries thought of kings, rulers who exploited power over others came to mind (10:42). They envisioned people like Herod Antipas, whom Mark calls “King Herod” (6:14).

Many Galileans viewed Antipas as king since he was a son of King Herod the Great. But politically, Antipas was just a governor and a wannabe king. He pretended to have unlimited power, even as he recklessly offered to do “anything” during a birthday banquet and boxed himself into killing John the Baptist (6:17–28).

In the same chapter, Jesus presided over a different kind of banquet, demonstrating God’s power as He fed the hungry masses (6:35–44).

Herod, of course, isn’t the real king in Mark. By the time of Jesus’ trial in Chapter 15, the title of “king” — a mocking accusation from His enemies — applies exclusively and repeatedly to Jesus.

Crowned with thorns, the true King of the Jews and the world is enthroned on a cross. He does not exploit others to serve Him, but serves others to the death.

People expected the real king to conquer Rome by force. Instead, Rome conquers Jesus by force. What kind of King is this?

After Peter’s confession, Jesus explains He is the promised suffering Son of Man (8:31). This image is from Daniel 7, which speaks of four empires with kings like beasts. The final kingdom — which belongs to God — has a Ruler who looks human, “like a son of man” (Daniel 7:13).

Though human, this King is also divine, receiving worship (Daniel 7:14). Identifying with God’s people, He suffers under the final beast, which Jesus’ contemporaries understood as Rome. Afterward, the King will preside over an everlasting Kingdom, and all rulers will ultimately become subject to Him (Daniel 7:21–27).

Jesus would indeed reign, as Peter expected, but first He would suffer under an evil empire. Throughout Mark’s Gospel, spirits, sickness, and even storms are subject to Jesus, but human beings are given a choice.

Christ’s first coming wasn’t about forcibly subduing sinful humans — not even Caesar. It was about conquering sin and death.

Satan’s Theology

Pastors often need to comfort people who feel God did not come through for them exactly as they expected. As Peter discovered, false expectations about God can lead to disappointment.

When Jesus spoke in parables, His disciples requested explanations (4:10,34). In Mark 8:32, though, Jesus speaks “plainly” — not in parables this time.

Now Peter understands Jesus’ message — and therefore opposes it! Peter is happy to follow a conquering messiah. However, he did not sign up for following a martyr to the death. So Peter decides to “rebuke” his own master (8:32).

Most of us will not
face martyrdom, but
all disciples of Jesus
are called to the scandal, humiliation, and self-denial of the Cross.

Mark notes Peter took Jesus aside rather than reproving Him publicly. Disciples were not supposed to correct their teachers. But Jesus turned and rebuked Peter openly in front of the group (8:33). The other disciples probably shared Peter’s opinion, so Jesus made this moment a lesson for all of them, saying, “Get behind me.”

Disciples were supposed to follow their teachers, not lead them. Jesus’ first recorded words to Peter in Mark’s Gospel were, “Come, follow me” (1:17).

But Jesus goes beyond simply reminding Peter of his proper place. He calls him “Satan,” knowing Peter’s words reflect human interests rather than divine ones.

Satan opposes Jesus (3:23–26) and His message (4:15). During Jesus’ temptation, the devil tried to turn Him from His mission (1:13). Now Peter takes on Satan’s role by denying Jesus’ message and seeking to deter Him from the Cross.

Rejecting Jesus’ suffering and refusing to bear the Cross is Satan’s theology. Those who would reign with Jesus must first be willing to suffer with Him and for Him.

Call of the Cross

When I was a student at Central Bible College in Springfield, Missouri, I volunteered with a local mission and often did evangelistic work downtown. One night, someone I tried to witness to beat me up and threatened to kill me. As I later nursed two black eyes, I wondered whether God did not want me out sharing the gospel that night.

Years later, I gained a clearer understanding of the cost of discipleship when a professor warned I might not be allowed to get my Ph.D. because I was too openly “religious.”

Jesus is worth dying for. Most of us will not face martyrdom, but all disciples of Jesus are called to the scandal, humiliation, and self-denial of the Cross.

In Mark 8:34, Jesus says, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Earlier in Mark, Jesus called those He chose as disciples to follow Him (3:13). Now Jesus invites anyone to make the choice to follow Him — but there is a cost.

By definition, disciples were followers of their teachers. Jesus is no ordinary teacher, however. Following Him involves a cross.

People in the Roman Empire understood what it meant to take up a cross. A criminal condemned to death would carry the heavy horizontal crossbeam through a howling mob to the site of execution. There the condemned would hang naked on a cross, suffering a slow, agonizing dying process that included dehydration, blood loss, and finally shock.

This is where Jesus is headed, and this is where His disciples must follow.

Yet when the time comes for Jesus’ disciples to follow Him to the Cross, they’re in hiding. The Roman execution squad has to draft a bystander, Simon of Cyrene, to pick up Jesus’ cross (15:21). The other Simon — Simon Peter — is missing.

Jesus shifts in 8:35–37 to accounting language and simple math. No amount of profit matters if one isn’t alive to enjoy it. Eternity is greater than the present life. Those who try to save their lives in this world by refusing the Cross will lose eternal life, while those who give up control of their lives to follow Jesus will receive eternal life (8:35). Even gaining the whole world at the cost of oneself is thus a losing proposition.

Peter soon promises even to die with Jesus (14:31). Yet instead of denying himself (8:34), Peter ends up denying Jesus three times (14:66–72). Like the rich man in 10:21–22, Peter makes a bad calculation, valuing this world more than eternal life.

Suffering Successfully

In virtually all cultures, people desire power, status, beauty, health and wealth. But not everyone has those things, including in God’s kingdom.

Theologically, we wonder why the righteous suffer, as if God should make life easier for His own people. When adversity comes, we ask, “What did I do to deserve this?”

Most people in the Bible thought this way, assuming life would be good if they made right choices. Job’s friends are a classic example. But in Scripture, suffering is not always judgment. Sometimes it is testing, or bad people hurting good people. Often in the New Testament, hardship comes from sharing Christ’s sufferings for God’s honor.

The real question is whether we trust Jesus’ message enough to stake our honor and earthly life on Him. If we really trust Him, we will live for His promise.

American culture emphasizes achievements in this life. Sacrificing for goals is fine, so long as success follows. But just as Jesus calls us to prize eternal life above life in this world, He reminds us to value heavenly honor above temporal accolades. When Christ returns, even the secrets of our hearts will become public knowledge.

This narrative shows Peter as an example of someone ashamed of Jesus and His words, especially the words Jesus had just spoken about His death (Mark 8:31).

“If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation,” Jesus warns, “the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels” (8:38).

The Transfiguration that follows this warning (9:2–8) is a foretaste of the promised future glory at Jesus’ return. It is that glory, not esteem in this age, we should live for. We must therefore weigh our decisions in light of eternity, asking ourselves, What will count forever?

Jesus’ disciples didn’t get it, though they should have. Jesus did not choose highly educated scribes or aristocratic priests, but ordinary individuals. He defended the poor and marginalized. He restored hope to the physically sick and those whose sins had alienated them from polite society.

The disciples nevertheless started thinking like elitists. They wanted to protect their hero from the needs of mere children (10:13–16) and a blind beggar (10:46–52). What the disciples failed to understand is that Jesus’ mission was all about caring for others’ needs (10:14–15).

Indeed, two disciples thought they deserved the seats on Jesus’ right and left in His kingdom, so they made their request in advance (10:37). Jesus replied, “Can you drink the cup I drink from or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” (10:38).

Jesus’ cup signifies His death (14:22–24,36). Like Peter, who felt confident he was ready to die for Jesus (14:31), James and John assure Jesus they are ready for His cup and baptism (10:39). They do not understand the places on His right and left belong to two robbers (15:27) who hang beside Jesus when He is enthroned on the Cross.

The other disciples are upset with James and John for trying to get ahead of them (10:41), presumably because they all want to be the greatest (9:34). So Jesus has to explain again the first will be last and the last first; whoever serves is the greatest (9:35; 10:31,44).

Jesus himself is the supreme illustration of this principle. The Son of Man, who will reign in glory forever (Daniel 7:27), came first to serve and give His life as a ransom for others (Mark 10:45).

Christ’s kingdom values invert this world’s values. Those who honor Jesus in this world, even at the expense of their own shame, will receive eternal honor when Jesus returns to judge the world. And those who are ashamed of Jesus in this world will bear eternal shame when Jesus returns (8:38).

The real question is whether we trust Jesus’ message enough to stake our honor and earthly life on Him. If we really trust Him, we will live for His promise.

Persevering Faith

As we know from Jesus’ predictions in Mark and Acts, Peter was eventually restored. He went on to serve Jesus for the remaining decades of his life.

In the end, Peter did take up his cross, following Jesus to the utmost. According to Church tradition, Peter died a martyr, crucified upside down in Rome.

Mark’s early hearers in Rome would remember Peter as a hero who lived what he preached. But Mark also makes it clear Peter started out just like any one of us. Jesus is the real hero. He is the one who makes Peter — and us — into fishers of people.

Jesus invites each of us to take up our cross and follow Him. For some, this could mean literal martyrdom. But for all Christians, it entails rejecting Satan’s theology of success and power, and letting go of human interests that defy God’s interests.

Taking up our cross means adopting Jesus’ definition of success and honor in light of eternity, instead of pursuing achievements that won’t last.

True success — truly overcoming — means denying ourselves rather than denying Jesus and His words.

This article appears in the Winter 2024 issue of Influence magazine.