Special Episode Recap: The Cross Is Not A Flagpole
What if the problem is not that Christians misunderstand the cross, but that we have repurposed it?
In this special episode of Wesleyan Threads, Pastor Britt steps beyond the usual focus on Methodist history, doctrine, and polity to reflect on Mark 8:27–9:1. Originally developed as part of an NT 602 project at Candler School of Theology, this episode centers on Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Messiah and the almost immediate conflict that follows. Peter gets the title right, but he cannot accept what Jesus says messiahship will mean: suffering, rejection, death, and resurrection.
The episode explores how Jesus redefines both messiahship and discipleship around the cross. When Jesus calls the crowd to deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow him, he is not offering a metaphor for ordinary inconvenience. He is calling his followers into a cruciform way of life marked by surrender, solidarity, truth-telling, and costly love.
That matters because the cross has too often been turned into a symbol of cultural identity, political dominance, or religious branding. But in Mark’s Gospel, the cross is not a tool for winning power. It is the place where the powers are exposed. The cross is not a flagpole. It does not exist to prop up a nation, party, institution, or ideology. It calls the church back to the crucified Christ.
Key Threads:
Peter’s confession and the paradox of messiahship
The narrative and theological pivot in Mark 8:27–9:1
Discipleship as costly and cruciform
The cross as symbol of vulnerability, not power
Reclaiming Mark’s Christology in a context of distorted triumphalism
Explore More:
Brian K. Blount and Gary W. Charles, Preaching Mark in Two Voices
R. Alan Culpepper, Mark (Smyth & Helwys)
M. Eugene Boring, Mark: A Commentary (Westminster John Knox)
Ched Myers, Binding the Strong Man
Listen to The Cross Is Not a Flagpole wherever you get your podcasts or here at wesleyanthreads.org
Follow up with “Wound Yet Risen” for further reflection on trauma and resurrection in Mark 15.
