Military Commitments

It began as one man’s dream to unite all Greek-speaking people into one group. He was Philip of Macedon. Sadly, his cupbearer poisoned him, leaving his kingdom and dream to his 20-year-old son, Alexander. Armed with a brilliant education from Aristotle and a strong army and cavalry from his dad, Alexander set to conquer the eastern regions of Asia Minor (Turkey), Syria, Judea, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq and reached the borders of India. Sadly, he died early, at 33 years of age, leaving the soldiers stranded in the east, far away from their hometowns. Some hadn’t seen their families in years. Their wives, pregnant when they left, gave birth to children who had reached their teenage years. Alexander’s conquest lasted for thirteen years. Without a vision and a single man to drive them eastward, the soldiers wanted to return home, and they did.

Nowadays, people in the military go on set missions. It was not so in the ancient days. They were gone for decades without seeing their families and loved ones. Such was the cost of commitment to a king/queen.

The king Jesus offered a similar challenge to his soldiers/disciples.

“If anyone wishes to follow after me, deny yourself, take your cross, and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)

This was like a military call. (In Greek, all three commands began with the letter “a” and finished with the letters “tho” – arnisastho, aratho, akolutitho.) Deny, Take, Follow. That was the call to join Jesus and his mission.

The people understood the meaning of the first two – deny, yes, they had to let go of their family, possessions, and life in their homeland; follow, yes, they had to follow their command-in-chief, like Alexander or Jesus. But take the cross? Soldiers didn’t take up their cross; they took swords, shields, spears, knives, and armor. They killed, conquered, and put their enemies on the cross. Their enemies carried the cross.

King Jesus’s command, however, was different. They – not their enemies – would face their imminent deaths. But

“Whoever wishes to save his/her soul will lose it. Whoever loses it for me will save it.” (9:25)

Should a disciple of Jesus decide not to journey with Jesus but stay home, s/he would find his/her soul (not life) was at a loss. On the other hand, whoever took the risk and followed Jesus found his/her soul. In the long run,

“What profits a person to have the word to his/her credit but lose his/her soul?” (9:25)

A life without ambition, goal, and purpose was an aimless life. It would have been like having all the delicacies on the table and a throat cancer that forbade eating them. Similarly, a person could have every blessing in life and not do what the soul desired, and that would be a failure. In short, whoever followed Jesus had nothing to be ashamed of – Jesus acknowledged them before God, his Father, as his people (9:26).

These verses summarized the core of true discipleship. Like Alexander the Great or any other military leader, the Lord challenged his disciples – deny, take, and follow. One must deny everything s/he took comfort in, take up the possibility of death, and follow Jesus till the end. Doing so will truly bring life and happiness to one’s life.