GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 8:34
Self-denial
Anyone who has seriously tried to shed extra pounds of body fat knows what hunger pangs are—a nagging drive in the pit of the stomach that cries out for relief. It is not a pleasant sensation. I’m reminded of that today for two reasons. First, I’m aware that there are people who are forced to endure that pain by circumstances beyond their control—drought, poverty, famine, or war, such as those in Ukraine and the Middle East. Second, in translating Mark 8:34, “And calling to himself the crowd with his disciples, he said to them, ‘If anyone wishes to follow after me, let him deny himself, and let him take up his cross, and let him follow me,’” I tried to find an adequate translation for the word Mark used for “let him deny himself.” Mark used a compound word with a prefix that intensifies the word “deny.” So the word does not simply mean to deny, but to deny utterly, to disown, or to abstain totally.
The Apostle Paul was in prison for the second time in Rome, and several friends were there to help him. One of the friends was Demas, a man Paul mentioned three times in his letters. The last time, however, writing to the faithful young pastor Timothy, he sadly wrote that Demas had forsaken him and left for the bustling business metropolis of Thessalonica, apparently leaving the imprisoned apostle in the lurch. (II Tim. 4:10) There’s nothing from Demas to explain his change, but the apostle said Demas left because he loved this present world; he had not reached the place described by Mark as “denying himself”—refusing to recognize what was behind.
Demas’ decision was made well before Missionary S. Sundar Singh wrote “I Have Decided To Follow Jesus/The Cross Before Me, The World Behind Me/Take This Whole World, But Give Me Jesus/I Have Started For The Kingdom/Though None Go With Me, Still Will I Follow/No Turning Back, No Turning Back.” The missionary captured the meaning of Mark’s word “let him deny himself.”
According to Plutarch, when Alexander the Great and the Macedonian army set out in pursuit of Darius, they traveled for days and exhausted their water supply. Some soldiers had stored water in skins for their animals from a previous river. When they saw Alexander almost choked with thirst, they filled a helmet with water and handed it to him. Alexander looked around at the parched soldiers and handed the helmet back without tasting a drop, saying, “If I alone should drink, the rest would be out of heart.” The soldiers took note of his self-denial, and they cried out to him to lead them forward boldly.
The pain of self-denial can be replaced by the far superior satisfaction that comes from knowing the fulfillment of the presence and sustenance of
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