Some of my favorite verses in scripture comes from Mark’s Gospel. In Mark chapter 8 we find, “34 Then Jesus called the crowd to Him along with his disciples and said: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.’”
In this e-letter, I’d like to specifically focus on verse 35 in which Jesus speaks about losing life for His sake. I find it interesting to point out that the word lose is actually closer to the word loose. Jesus in essence is saying if you want to find life, real life, full life, you have to “loose” it, or be willing to let go of a lot of things.
I heard a story of a family that went rafting on the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. I am not sure where they were, but they got into some tricky white water. Before they left shore that day, their guide told the family something life saving that folks who raft a lot know inside and out.
The guide said something like, “If the raft flips, do not hold onto others and pull them down. Remember to let go and you will be fine.”
Later that day on the river the raft did flip. The mother on the raft grabbed hold of her young son’s arms and they went down under the surface.
The guide’s words came into the mother’s mind. She wanted to hang onto her son but she knew they would both drown if she did. So she let go, even though doing so was completely counter intuitive and against every motherly grain in her body.
She “loosed”, if you will. Immediately, mother and son popped up above the surface and they survived.
It is human nature to want to hold on, to direct, to take charge, to grab a hold of. Like the Goodyear Blimp when it is on the ground, many of us are tethered to things, places, events, people, and histories. Many of us are tied down in ways that keep us from more fully following Christ.
But Jesus makes it crystal clear, if we want to follow Him, we have to be willing to “loose” or to let go of things that bind us. We need to be careful about our dependencies and what or who it is that makes us secure. All of us have things God wants us to “loose” in order to follow Him and to find life.
What might be God asking you to “loose” today that is impeding your ability to follow Christ or to make a difference in a situation that is right in front of you?
Throughout Jesus’ days of teaching, healing, and challenging, Jesus made it clear that when it comes to God, we need to expect the unexpected, unlike those that are most set in their ways in their relationship with God. God does new things all the time. God breaks the mold. God surprises.
When we are willing to “loose” parts of our lives, it is then we become more open to God and make the most room for God to do something new or unanticipated. In the midst of all of life’s challenges, God wants our lives to be blessed, joyful and purposeful. The more we “loose”, the more we are open to whatever it is God has in mind, the more likely we will encounter the life God envisions for each of us.
My mother taught Home Economics and English Jr. High, Southern California during ’60’&’70’s. Usually around the dinner table she would share stories with us from her work day. The story of the bad seam! Quite often as students in sewing class were learning to sew, the seams would be sewn crooked, the thread tension would not be adjusted properly, making a bad seam. Not a problem, she would then teach students to carefully use the seam ripper to cut the seam open and sew the seam again. Well, the students would then say to her,” Mrs. Hall……. you mean I need to cut the seam a loose? Well the parable of Mark 8: 34-35 comes around again. Thank you Robert
Hi Meredith… Thank you for sharing your “bad seam” memory of your wonderful mother, my Aunt Jean. I not heard that one before. One of my favorite memories of your Mom was during raspberries picking time on the South Boulder. She didn’t leave me any ripe raspberries to snack on while fly fishing. I managed to get a few ripe berries out of the pan before she cooked them up. It is a memory that never fails to put a smile on my face. – Ed