Lose your life for Christ
The following verse appears in all four Gospels, which underlies its importance:
- Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (Matthew 10:39)
- For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it. (Mark 8:35)
- Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it. (Luke 17:33)
- Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. (John 12:25)
How to properly interpret it? First of all, there are two parts in this verse. The first part talks about whoever finds his life, or wishes to save his life, or seeks to preserve his life, or loves his life will lose it. Here, the word life is translated from the Greek word psychē which refers to a person’s natural life; i.e., a person’s life on earth, as opposed to life hereafter. Some people may ask: Is it wrong to find, save, seek or love your life here on earth? Don’t we have a right to preserve and love our own life?
The second part of the verse reveals the bigger picture, for it talks about the life hereafter; i.e., whoever loses his life in this world for the sake of Jesus Christ will gain eternal life.
Looking at the context of this Gospel passage, we see that Jesus was talking to His apostles. In addition, Jesus also told them beforehand that “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.” (Matthew 10:37-38)
An apostle of Christ must love Christ above his own father, mother, son or daughter; he must take up his own cross and follow after Christ who carried His Cross and was crucified on it; he must give up his life for the sake of Christ, in order to preserve it for eternal life. Those who were called to be apostles of Christ, except one, lived up to this calling: Peter, James, John, Andrew, James, Thomas, Philip, Matthew, Bartholomew, Simon and Jude; Matthias who replaced Judas, as well as Paul, Barnabas, Timothy and Titus.
Many years ago a person asked me: Is there anything more that I can do to be closer to God? She was very religious, coming to Mass and receiving the Eucharist daily, frequently going to confession, making holy hours, praying a lot and reading scripture. So I asked her: have you ever thought about dying for Christ? She was unsettled, but finally she replied: No, I’m afraid to be a martyr. When they started out with Jesus, the apostles were afraid too, but they deepened their faith with time and with plenty of God’s grace. Deepening one’s faith is not necessarily measured about how long or how much one prays, but it can sure be the effect of having a deeper faith. After some time, she came back and told me: I’m no longer afraid; if it be God’s will, I will be happy to die a martyr.
Does this Gospel passage apply to ordinary people like us? Certainly, it does. But not everyone is called to be a martyr. This scripture passage tells us that we ought to lose the kind of life that craves things and seeks glory for oneself; this kind of life leaves a person trapped in his own little world. Instead, we should strive for the Christian life that seeks to love and serve God and others; this kind of life gives a person great freedom to live an abundant life of grace in the present, and everlasting life in the future.