Do you agree with the pacifist claim that taking up one’s cross and following Christ includes renouncing deadly violence? If not, how should we interpret the first three passages above?
And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves […]