8:34
Jesus now speaks to both the disciples and the crowd. He has just told the disciples what is going to happen to Him, He now tells the people what following Him means. They thought the Messiah was going to bring political relief, and that following Him, or being part of the Messiah’s entourage would be great. Following Jesus is indeed great, but not in the sense that might be thought. They needed to reassess who the Messiah was, and what following the Messiah meant. Following Jesus means denying oneself and taking up one's cross. The analogy is that a person condemned to die by crucifixion by the Romans would have to carry the cross on which they would die. Being a disciple of Jesus would not make one popular, indeed one had to be prepared to be utterly rejected by society, and possibly killed.
8:35
Human nature is to want to save our own life. Whether doing this in a literal sense, or in a more metaphorical sense of seeking self-advancement. If we make ourselves the number one priority then we will actually lose our life. Why is this? It is because God has the final say. Because of sin we are essentially a busted flush. This life is not going far. It is actually far wiser to lose this life, and to seek eternal life instead. We are to live for the sake of Christ and for the gospel.
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