"Let them renounce themselves and take up their cross": a feminist reading of Mark 8:34 in Mark's social and narrative world

In Mark, to become a disciple is to renounce one's kinship group and to join those following Jesus, that is, to join the new community or fictive kinship group around Jesus. The markan Jesus says, "'Who are my mother and my brothers?' And looking around at those seated about him in a circle, he said, 'Look, here are my mother and my brothers! For those who do the will of God, they are my brother and sister and mother'" (Mark 3:33-35). Later, in response to Peter's question about what the disciples get for following him, Jesus spells out the riches and cost of rejecting kin: "There is no one who has left a house or brothers or sisters or a mother or a father or children or fields for me and for the good news who does not receive a hundred times as many now, in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and fields--with persecutions--and in the coming age life eternal" (10:29-30). In addition, the only other uses of renounce (aparneomai) in Mark are found in the prediction and relating of Peter's renunciation of Jesus (14:30, 31, 72). In renouncing Jesus, Peter is renouncing his new fictive kinship group. To deny self, then, is to deny ones kin.

Since to reject kin is to reject the basic social-political-economic structure of ancient society, it is not surprising that rejection of kin and persecution should occur together. Societies do not tend to support those who break their rules. The parallels cited above from Q and the Gospel of Thomas suggest the close connection between denying kin and persecution. The chiastic pattern (that is the crossing or abb'a' pattern) of Mark 8:34 also suggests a close parallel (Malina 1994: 107). The structure of the verse may be laid out as follows:

A If any want to follow after me,

B let them renounce themselves [that is, deny kin]

B' and take up their cross [that is, risk persecution]

A' and follow me.

The parallelism between A and A' (to follow Jesus) suggests that B and B' are similar to each other in meaning as well. To follow Jesus is to join the new community of God's rule, the fictive kinship group gathered around Jesus. In order to do this, one must renounce kin and be prepared to face persecution--take up one's cross--from those in authority in the larger society. Bas van Iersel writes:

   Today's readers must be careful not to see this passage as being
   unrelated to a possible situation of persecution, and interpret it,
   for instance, as a call for an ascetic way of life that is
   characterized by self-renunciation or even self-contempt.... The
   sayings are not about anything so vague as general lifestyle, but
   about a person's willingness to give his or her life for the sake of
   Jesus when this ultimate sacrifice is demanded [291].

In summary then, when read in the context of the first century cultural world and the larger narrative of Mark, Mark 8:34 is not an exhortation to suffering and victimage in general. It is an exhortation to remain faithful to Jesus and the rule of God in face of persecution, even execution, by political authorities. While the end of much human suffering is realized by the breaking of the rule of God into history in Jesus' ministry, persecution for following Jesus is a real possibility as long as this age lasts. Any reading of this passage as encouraging individual suffering is a misreading of the text.