Mark 10:28-31

Mark 10:28-31

Peter began to say to Jesus,

“We have given up everything and followed you.”

Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you,

there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters

or mother or father or children or lands

for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel

who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age:

houses and brothers and sisters

and mothers and children and lands,

with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come.

But many that are first will be last, and the last will be first.”

Opening Prayer: Lord God, I seek each day to follow your Son. I am willing to give up any attachments to this passing life and present age and enjoy divine life. Help me to see myself as a new creation in Christ who is called to bring others to live in the age to come.

Encountering the Word of God

1. Peter’s Observation: Today, we take up our semi-sequential reading of the Gospel of Mark, which we paused during Lent and Easter. We will read from this Gospel during the next two weeks. In the Gospel, Peter makes a legitimate observation: “We have given up everything and followed you” (Mark 10:28). Peter’s observation follows the experience of the Transfiguration and Jesus speaking openly about his coming passion, death, and resurrection in Jerusalem. Jesus also speaks about the conditions for following him: praying and fasting to combat evil (Mark 9:29), being the last and servant of all as a condition for true greatness (9:35), serving others in his name (9:41), not causing others to sin (9:42), separating ourselves from what leads to sin (9:43-47), fidelity and perseverance in marriage (10:11-12), welcoming his lordship (the kingdom of God) with simplicity and humility (10:15), keeping the commandments (10:19), detaching ourselves from material things, and giving to the poor (10:21). And so, Peter asks, “Lord, if we do all this ‘giving up,’ in the present age, what will we receive in the age to come?”

2. Jesus’ Response: Jesus’ response to Peter is threefold. First, Jesus says that his followers will become brothers and sisters in the Church. The Baptized are incorporated into the Church, the mystical body of Christ, and this is part of the hundredfold we now receive. Humanity is united in the Church, the family of God. When we “give up” our earthly family for the sake of the Gospel, we gain a much larger family. The bonds of love become even stronger in this new family. Second, following Christ more perfectly means sharing more deeply in his passion. This is why we can expect increased persecution. Third, the greatest gift that we receive is eternal life. We die to ourselves, we give and offer up our lives, and, in return, we receive true, eternal life. Through the Sacraments, grace, and the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity, we share already in eternal life. But the day will come, after this life, when we will share fully in eternal life, seeing and loving God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

3. The Two Worlds and Ages in Paul: The contrast in the Gospel passage between the two worlds – the present age and the age to come – is often found in Paul’s writings. Paul teaches that through the passion, crucifixion, resurrection, and exaltation of Jesus, the present world (age) has passed away and was put to death, and the new world began. Because of this, anyone in the present age who belongs to Jesus already belongs to the world and the age to come. The present world is fallen but has been transformed into a new creation through Christ. The old and new creations overlap in Christ. Believers who are in Christ live in a kind of in-between realm where the old and new creations intermingle. Believers continue to live and suffer in this world of sin and death; yet they already share in the glory of the light of the new creation (see Pitre, Barber, Kincaid, Paul: A New Covenant Jew, 72-73).

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, I want to follow you and share in your life more fully. You knew how to live in this world and use everything to glorify your Father. I desire that same wisdom. I am surrounded by many temptations and many good things. Help me discern between them and pursue the good in all that I do.

Living the Word of God: Do I see myself as a sojourner living in the present world but already enjoying life in the new world inaugurated by Christ? How can I better live this truth? What sinful actions of mine are part of the old world, and what grace-filled actions are part of the new world?