Lent Day Twenty Eight
“The Cost of True Life”
Mark 16:21-27 The Passion Translation
21 From then on Jesus began to clearly reveal to his disciples that he was destined to go to Jerusalem and suffer injustice from the elders, leading priests, and religious scholars. He also explained that he would be killed and three days later be raised to life again.
22 Then Peter took him aside to correct him privately. He reprimanded Jesus over and over saying to him, “God forbid, Master! Spare yourself. You must never let this happen to you!”
23 Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get out of my way, you Satan! You are an offense to me, because your thoughts are only filled with man’s viewpoints and not with the ways of God!”
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If you truly want to follow me, you should at once completely reject and disown your own life. And you must be willing to share my cross and experience it as your own, as you continually surrender to my ways.
25 For if you choose self-sacrifice and lose your lives for my glory, you will continually discover true life. But if you choose to keep your lives for yourselves, you will forfeit what you try to keep.
26 For even if you were to gain all the wealth and power of this world with everything it could offer you—at the cost of your own life, what good would that be? And what could be more valuable to you than your own soul?
27 It has been decreed that I, the Son of Man, will one day return with my messengers, and in the splendor and majesty of my Father. And then I will reward each person according to what they have done.
Today’s passage is one of the most challenging in the Gospels—yet also one of the most relatable.
Imagine yourself among the disciples. You have left everything behind—your home, your work, your old way of life—to follow Jesus. For three years, you have walked dusty roads with Him, shared meals under open skies, and witnessed the impossible—food multiplied, storms stilled, the sick healed, even the dead raised. You are part of something extraordinary, something greater than yourself.
But this life is not without its dangers. There are whispers of plots against Jesus, tension with the religious leaders, and a growing sense that something is coming—something that makes your heart uneasy. Then, one day, Jesus gathers you and the others around Him and shatters your expectations telling you that He is soon to suffer a terrible death at the hands of your own people.
You cannot take it in. How could this be? The Messiah, the one who has power over life and death—how could He possibly be defeated? You look to Peter, the boldest among you, and before you can speak, he bursts out, "God forbid, Master! Spare yourself! This must never happen to you!" His words echo the confusion and fear rising in your own heart. But then comes the rebuke—sharp, cutting, unexpected. "Get behind me, Satan! You feel the sting because you were thinking the same.
It's a very understandable human reaction, because as Jesus points out, our ‘thoughts are only filled with man’s viewpoints and not with the ways of God.’
Seven hundred years earlier, God had spoken through the prophet Isaiah:
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord. (Isaiah 55:8-9)
Our understanding of God’s character and plan is limited by our humanity, and in our fear, we overlook something astonishing: Jesus has not only foretold His suffering—He has also promised His resurrection.
This is the greatest promise ever made to humankind. But it comes with a challenge. Jesus doesn’t just invite us to believe in His victory—He calls us to follow Him. "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross." (Mark 8:34). True life is found not in self-preservation but in surrender. And when we trust Him, we step beyond fear into the fullness of God’s plan—a life that leads, through sacrifice, to resurrection and glory.
Kate Nicholas
As a journalist and communicator, words have always been part of her life but it took a cancer diagnosis to turn her into an author. Kate’s first book, her memoir Sea Changed is an account of her unconventional journey of faith and healing from advanced inoperable breast cancer.
When she was ill she kept on being given a passage from Psalm 188:17 ‘I shall not die, but will live and declare the works of the Lord’ and when I against all odds she recovered she dedicated her life to that mission as a preacher, writer and broadcaster.
Her books include Sea Changed A Companion Guide (Living a Transformed Life) - a reflection guide to help readers understand how God can use all the circumstances of our lives to transform us; Soul’s Scribe – a guide to help readers understand and share their own ‘soul stories’; as well as a children's story Wife of the Wind. Her latest book To The Ocean Floor tells the story of her second cancer journey and how it became a gateway to a profound encounter with God.
Now once again in remission, she is busy working away on my next book and is just so grateful to still be here declaring the works of the Lord.