This whole chapter of Mark is a catechesis on following Jesus. It is demanding, it is hard, because the disciple must deny himself, take up the cross, choose the last place, be a servant of all, give his life. Jesus goes ahead. The disciples are frightened. Every time we become aware of the suffering of our brothers and sisters, every time we read some episodes of our own lives, we encounter the pain, the cross. Jesus is God’s answer to our deepest questions about failure and death itself. Let us look at Jesus who goes ahead, he carries our cross, he is our Cyrenaean, the reason for our hope because he has conquered death and sin.