Jesus told his disciples,
“My followers
deny themselves,
take up their cross,
follow me.
Truly I tell you,
taste death…
see the Son of Man
coming in his kingdom.”

While praying my daily lectio divina practice with Matthew 16:24-28, the words that caught my attention were “will not taste death.” As I sat with those words for a little while and entered into conversation with God about them, it occurred to me that a life of discipleship is really all about “tasting death.”

So often, it’s in our daily dyings and risings, sufferings and struggles, we learn to let go, turn to God, and to trust in new ways. Listening to the text again, I heard “follow me…taste death.”

Oof.

That’s rough.

It’s downright scandalous.

If I’m honest, I can’t say I like those words of Jesus.

Yet…

If our life of faith is centered on the cross and resurrection, perhaps it’s through these little deaths we learn how to live. Maybe they help us to loosen our grip on what isn’t really helpful or healthy, what’s fleeting or unnecessary. Or they invite us to pay attention to what is most important, to what really brings abundant life. What if we might actually be able to “see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom,” glimpsing the holy

in the crowded grocery store,
in messy relationships with family, friends, and neighbors,
in beloved pets (who sometimes try our nerves!),
the loud hum of summer locusts,
or even when we look
at that blessedly flawed and beautiful human in the mirror?

© Annabelle P. Markey