How Does Losing a Life Save It?
“Jesus told his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it’” (Matthew 16:24-25). In this saying, Yeshua asserts that those who would die for his sake, though they lose their earthly lives, will gain eternal life in the world to come. More, Jesus’ words suggest that entry into the kingdom of heaven depends on one’s posture and action toward him. While this may sound like something that only the Son of God could say, the Gospel is not the only Jewish text to clarify that self-sacrifice for a righteous rabbi leads to kingdom access.
According to the Babylonian Talmud (c. 600 CE), at the time that the second temple was destroyed “a decree was issued against Rabban Gamliel for execution” (b. Taanit 29a). Upon this decree, a Roman officer visits the rabbi and asks, “If I rescue you (מצילנה לך; matselnah lakh) [from this death sentence] will you bring me into the world to come?” After Gamliel assures him of eternal life, the officer leaps to his death: “he ascended to the roof, fell, and died.” The Talmud goes on to detail a Roman “tradition that when they issued a decree and one [of their officers] died, they would cancel the decree.” Thus, the officer gave his own life for the sake of the rabbi. Thereafter, the voice of God emerged from heaven and said, “That officer is designated for the life of the world to come (לחיי העולם הבא; l’hayey ha’olam ha’ba).”
Not only does this Talmudic tale reaffirm Jesus’ own assertion that self-sacrifice for his sake precedes everlasting life, but it also reflects the notion that a righteous teacher had the power to influence God’s decision to allow kingdom entry. The Gospel does not reflect the rhetoric of a new religion foreign to Judaism. In fact, the Talmud’s closing reference to the “life of the world to come” (לחיי העולם הבא) echoes the end of the Nicene Creed, which also looks forward to the “life of the world to come” (ζωὴν τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος; zoēn toū mēllontos aiōnos). Jesus’ words form the basis of the Christian practice of Imitatio Christi (imitating Christ) and following him in the way of the cross, but Yeshua stands firmly within the traditions of Judaism when he declares that a life lost for his sake would lead to eternal life.
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