Matthew 16:24

16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to become my follower, ¹  he must deny ²  himself, take up his cross, ³  and follow me.

Matthew 27:32

The Crucifixion

27:32 As ⁴  they were going out, they found a man from Cyrene named Simon, whom they forced ⁵  to carry his cross. ⁶ 

Mark 8:34

Following Jesus

8:34 Then ⁷  Jesus ⁸  called the crowd, along with his disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wants to become my follower, ⁹  he must deny ¹⁰  himself, take up his cross, ¹¹  and follow me.

Mark 10:21

10:21 As Jesus looked at him, he felt love for him and said, “You lack one thing. Go, sell whatever you have and give the money ¹²  to the poor, and you will have treasure ¹³  in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

Luke 9:23-24

A Call to Discipleship

9:23 Then ¹⁴  he said to them all, ¹⁵  “If anyone wants to become my follower, ¹⁶  he must deny ¹⁷  himself, take up his cross daily, ¹⁸  and follow me. 9:24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, ¹⁹  but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

Luke 14:27

14:27 Whoever does not carry his own cross ²⁰  and follow ²¹  me cannot be my disciple.

John 19:17

19:17 and carrying his own cross ²²  he went out to the place called “The Place of the Skull” ²³  (called in Aramaic ²⁴  Golgotha). ²⁵ 

[16:24]  ¹ tn Grk “to come after me.”

[16:24]  ² tn This translation better expresses the force of the Greek third person imperative than the traditional “let him deny,” which could be understood as merely permissive.

[16:24]  ³ sn To bear the cross means to accept the rejection of the world for turning to Jesus and following him. Discipleship involves a death that is like a crucifixion; see Gal 6:14.

[27:32]  ⁴ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[27:32]  ⁵ tn Or “conscripted”; or “pressed into service.”

[27:32]  ⁶ sn Jesus was beaten severely with a whip before this (the prelude to crucifixion, known to the Romans as verberatio, mentioned in Matt 27:26; Mark 15:15; John 19:1), so he would have been weak from trauma and loss of blood. Apparently he was unable to bear the cross himself, so Simon was conscripted to help (in all probability this was only the crossbeam, called in Latin the patibulum, since the upright beam usually remained in the ground at the place of execution). Cyrene was located in North Africa where Tripoli is today. Nothing more is known about this Simon. Mark 15:21 names him as father of two people apparently known to Mark’s audience.

[8:34]  ⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[8:34]  ⁸ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:34]  ⁹ tn Grk “to follow after me.”

[8:34]  ¹⁰ tn This translation better expresses the force of the Greek third person imperative than the traditional “let him deny,” which could be understood as merely permissive.

[8:34]  ¹¹ sn To bear the cross means to accept the rejection of the world for turning to Jesus and following him. Discipleship involves a death that is like a crucifixion; see Gal 6:14.

[10:21]  ¹² tn The words “the money” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[10:21]  ¹³ sn The call for sacrifice comes with a promise of eternal reward: You will have treasure in heaven. Jesus’ call is a test to see how responsive the man is to God’s direction through him. Will he walk the path God’s agent calls him to walk? For a rich person who got it right, see Zacchaeus in Luke 19:1-10.

[9:23]  ¹⁴ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[9:23]  ¹⁵ sn Here them all could be limited to the disciples, since Jesus was alone with them in v. 18. It could also be that by this time the crowd had followed and found him, and he addressed them, or this could be construed as a separate occasion from the discussion with the disciples in 9:18-22. The cost of discipleship is something Jesus was willing to tell both insiders and outsiders about. The rejection he felt would also fall on his followers.

[9:23]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “to come after me.”

[9:23]  ¹⁷ tn This translation better expresses the force of the Greek third person imperative than the traditional “let him deny,” which could be understood as merely permissive.

[9:23]  ¹⁸ sn Only Luke mentions taking up one’s cross daily. To bear the cross means to accept the rejection of the world for turning to Jesus and following him. Discipleship involves a death that is like a crucifixion; see Gal 6:14.

[9:24]  ¹⁹ sn The point of the saying whoever wants to save his life will lose it is that if one comes to Jesus then rejection by many will certainly follow. If self-protection is a key motivation, then one will not respond to Jesus and will not be saved. One who is willing to risk rejection will respond and find true life.

[14:27]  ²⁰ sn It was customary practice in a Roman crucifixion for the prisoner to be made to carry his own cross. Jesus is speaking figuratively here in the context of rejection. If the priority is not one’s allegiance to Jesus, then one will not follow him in the face of possible rejection; see Luke 9:23.

[14:27]  ²¹ tn Grk “and come after.” In combination with the verb ἔρχομαι (ercomai) the improper preposition ὀπίσω (opisw) means “follow.”

[19:17]  ²² tn Or “carrying the cross by himself.”

[19:17]  ²³ sn Jesus was led out to the place called “The Place of the Skull” where he was to be crucified. It is clear from v. 20 that this was outside the city. The Latin word for the Greek κρανίον (kranion) is calvaria. Thus the English word “Calvary” is a transliteration of the Latin rather than a NT place name (cf. Luke 23:33 in the KJV).

[19:17]  ²⁴ tn Grk “in Hebrew.”

[19:17]  ²⁵ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.