By Brian Cook
There is a verse that is rather haunting. Mark 8:36 says, “And what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul”. The older I get the clearer this question becomes. A good definition of the word “forfeit” is as follows: “the failure to act that results in loss.” Is Jesus teaching that the failure to follow Him results in the loss of your soul? Yes, but let’s dig deeper.
Looking at the word forfeit through the lens of sports helps. This is the only place most of us hear the word used anyway. In sports you forfeit a game when you don’t show up. The game is scheduled, the rules of the game are set, the teams are decided, the event is prepared, but one team doesn’t show and loses by default. Jesus of course isn’t talking sports but teaching that it is possible for souls to be lost, even our very own, if we don’t show up. Show up to what? The call of Christ to surrender our lives in obedience to Him.
The level of legitimacy that comes from Jesus’ words and actions never ceases to amaze me. If we back up and look at all of Mark 8:34-38, we feel the gravity of Jesus’ words. He bids “the crowd” as well as “His disciples” over to Himself to teach them the same lesson. To the crowd, He offers the deeper call into discipleship (verse 34). Then to His disciples he offers the ultimate challenge (verse 35), the call to live a life centered around the gospel. And to both He offers the warning that forfeit is possible (verse 36) and the question of what we are willing to give (verse 37). And lastly, He points both groups to the future, giving them the answer key to our final assessment at the Judgement (verse 38). I say “legitimacy” about Jesus because He never gives us a command or an expectation that He doesn’t hold Himself accountable to first. He is the very definition of integrity. And He is blunt, especially to those who pretend to answer the call (Luke 6:46). He is the very definition of accountability.
And that is haunting indeed because I know me. The hymn says it best, “prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love”. But “wander” and “forfeit” are not the same. The blessing of the Sacrament of Confession is that the wanderer, the prodigal, can always come home. But is there a cure for forfeit? No, but let’s dig deeper.
There is no spiritual remedy for not showing up to the call of Christ. He says, “whoever keeps His life will lose it” (verse 35). Being made in the image of God is an astonishing gift. It gives to us the very capacity to commune with God in relationship. But sin is an astonishing curse, giving us the capacity to reject relationship with God. So yes, each one of us can keep our life for ourselves, gain the whole world for ourselves, refuse to take up our cross, refuse to follow Him, refuse to “show up” to the call of Christ and forfeit our soul. There is no neutral ground. Relatively few on the planet today are strictly left to the mercy of God having never heard the call of Christ. Most have and will hear. This call from Christ was given to His enemies, His friends, His homeland, to foreign lands, to disciples, to centurions, to Jews, to Gentiles, to men, to women, to the wealthy, to the poor, to the free, to the slave, to His Mother, to all nations, to each and to all down to today. And to you and to me. The only real question is, will we answer?
Every day is an opportunity, and Our Blessed Lord has done the heavy lifting. He has called us to join Him on mission. To get out of the stands and onto the field. To join Him, not in safety but surrender. To “show up” and not forfeit. To answer His question, “What will a man give in exchange for his soul?”
