“If Anyone Would Come After Me…” — Discipleship in Luke 9:23

In Gospel of Luke 9, Jesus turns a corner. Just before verse 23, Peter confesses that Jesus is “the Christ of God” (9:20). Immediately after that confession, Jesus predicts His suffering, rejection, death, and resurrection (9:22). That’s the first cross in the passage—the cross of Christ. He is moving steadily toward Jerusalem and toward crucifixion. Then, without softening the moment, Jesus says: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (9:23). That’s the second cross—the cross of the disciple.

Deny Yourself: More Than Giving Up Bad Habits

The first command is stark: “deny himself.” This is not about minor lifestyle tweaks. As Leon Morris rightly emphasizes, it is not just sins that are given up—it is the self.1 The verb Jesus uses means to renounce, to disown. It’s the same word used of Peter when he later “denies” Jesus (Luke 22:57). To deny yourself is to treat the old, self-centered version of you as no longer the authority.

That means the disciple gives up a self-directed way of life. The center shifts. It is the rejection of the autonomous self as lord. It’s saying, “I no longer belong to myself.” That aligns with other New Testament voices. Paul the Apostle writes in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” The “I” that once ruled has been dethroned.

In a culture—especially American Christianity in 2026—that often equates faith with personal fulfillment, platform-building, and curated spirituality, this is countercultural. We are told to find ourselves, express ourselves, protect ourselves. Jesus says, deny yourself. The self makes a terrible god.

Take Up Your Cross: A One-Way Trip

Then comes the second command: “take up his cross.” This is Luke’s first use of the word “cross,” and in the ancient world it was not a religious symbol or jewelry motif. It was an execution device. Under Roman rule, crucifixion was public, humiliating, and brutal. When a condemned man carried his crossbeam through the streets, everyone knew what it meant: he was on a one-way journey. There was no coming back.

So when Jesus says, “take up your cross,” the disciples would not have imagined slight inconvenience to the old self. They would have heard death. This is the ultimate picture of self-denial: the old life is not reformed; it is sentenced. Jesus is not calling for mild acknowledgment but for total surrender.

Importantly, this does not mean we repeat Christ’s atoning work. Only Jesus bears the cross for sin in that sense. As 9:22 makes clear, His suffering and death are unique and redemptive. But the pattern—obedience unto suffering, faithfulness —is one we are called to follow. Romans 6 speaks of being united with Christ in His death and resurrection. The Christian life involves dying to the “old self” (cf. Ephesians 4:22) and walking in newness of life. In that sense, taking up the cross means embracing a decisive break with the old way of life. In a world obsessed with self-preservation and upward mobility, Jesus calls us to downward mobility—toward humility, service, and sacrificial love.

Daily: Not One and Done

Luke alone includes the word “daily.” That word changes everything. This is not a one-time emotional moment at an altar. It is not a spiritual high that carries us on autopilot. Salvation is the beginning—new birth is real—but discipleship is lifelong. Every day, the disciple wakes up and reaffirms: I belong to Christ.

This echoes 1 Corinthians 15, where Paul says, “I die every day!” (15:31). In context, Paul is defending the resurrection and reflecting on the cost of his ministry. His daily “dying” is not about being saved repeatedly; it is about daily exposure to hardship and a continual surrender of self. The Christian life is sustained dependence and ongoing obedience.

Jesus’ words push us beyond event-based Christianity. We are not on vacation until heaven. We are apprentices of Christ. Self-denial includes our ambitions, our bodies, our calendars, our money, our relationships, our future plans. God wants all of us because He is God.

Note: (1) Leon Morris, The Gospel According to Luke, The Tyndale NT Commentaries (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974).