Bear the Cross for Jesus
The gospel has two parts: Jesus is the Christ; and the Christ must suffer, if He shall enter His glory. Our Lord made sure of the first, before He held to the second. There had been veiled hints of His death before, as in John 2:19; Matthew 9:15; Matthew 12:40; but henceforth it was taught without a veil. The Cross had always cast its shadow over our Lord's path. He did not die as the martyr on whom death comes unexpectedly, but He stepped from the throne and became incarnate that He might die. Notice that solemn must, Matthew 16:21.
How soon Peter fell from his high estate! Beware! The voice that bids us spare ourselves is Satan's. Self-pleasing ends in destruction. Self-denial and self-sacrifice are the divine path to life. Let us be more eager to lose ourselves than to find ourselves; more set on the cross than on the glory; more eager to promote the well-being of others than our own. We do not choose or make our cross; Christ gives each a little bit of His true Cross to bear as He pleases.