KJV
24 ¶Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Matt 16:24-26)
JST
25 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me.
26 And now for a man to take up his cross, is to deny himself all ungodliness, and every worldly lust, and keep my commandments.
27 Break not my commandments for to save your lives; for whosoever will save his life in this world, shall lose it in the world to come.
28 And whosoever will lose his life in this world, for my sake, shall find it in the world to come.29 Therefore, forsake the world, and save your souls; for what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (JST Matt 16:25-29)
The JST does
several things here that help us.
First it adds language to show us that taking up the cross is not
self-flagellation and losing one’s life for Christ’s sake does not mean one
goes around with a death wish.
Second, it brings the sweeping metaphorical language of “take up the
cross” and translates it into a few principles that we can use as a guide in
everyday living. These principles
are 1) denying ourselves of ungodliness and every worldly lust and 2) keeping
the commandments. We can look at
everything we do and evaluate it by these standards. We can even evaluate the things we do for fun by this
standard to see whether there is any ungodliness or lust in it and whether it
allows us to keep a commandment.
Another thing
we get from the JST is some instruction for extraordinary situations of
temptation. The instruction comes
in the form of two statements.
“Break not my
commandments for to save your lives” -- Jesus knew that life could present
dilemmas in which we might be commanded on pain of death or some other serious
loss to do something expressly against Jesus’ commandments. (It certainly happens in times of
terrible persecution.) This
statement makes our course clear, though it certainly will not be easy, and
makes more specific what the promise of “lose your life in this world to find
it in the world to come” is attached to.
Without this little bit of JST and the understanding that it is for
extraordinary circumstances, followers of Christ may suffer from some anxiety
of wondering just how to lose their life for Jesus’ sake, wondering if they are
expected to seek out situations to sacrifice their lives or whether they should
embrace a more radical asceticism.
“Therefore
forsake the world, and save your souls.” – Jesus also knew that there might be
situations when the Saints might be specifically or implicitly offered huge
rewards if we would just compromise our standards in some respect or break some
commandment or pass over wrong-doing. (This happens in situations when the Saints collide with
corrupt systems.) He recognized
that unless we remembered the value of saving our soul for eternity, we might
think it an excellent trade. We
have to remember the worth of souls, the reward of eternity with God and use
that to help us sacrifice the temporary gain, power, praise, or fame of the
world.
Understanding
this helps me feel a little more secure that it IS possible for me to take up
my cross and forsake the world, whether it is in everyday decisions or
extraordinary circumstances. I
think I will be a little more alert to notice those situations in the future. It also helps me understand how I can keep temple covenants of sacrifice.
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