Mark 10:28-31

1 Peter 1:10-16

Psalm 98:1, 2-3ab, 2 cd-4

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: Peter makes a legitimate observation in today’s Gospel and asks a legitimate question in its parallel in Matthew’s Gospel: “We have given up everything and followed you” (Mark 10:28), “What will there be for us?” (Matthew 19:27). In Mark, Peter’s observation follows the experience of the Transfiguration and Jesus speaking openly of his coming passion, death, and resurrection. 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’ 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. Second, following Christ more perfectly means sharing more deeply in his passion. This is why we can expect an increase in persecution. Third, the greatest gift we receive is 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, contemplating and loving God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 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).

3. Be Holy: The First Letter of Peter continues in this line of thought and raises our eyes from suffering in this life to the glory of heaven. The prophets, Peter writes, spoke about the coming grace of the Messiah. Jesus Christ suffered and died, and, through these, merited for us heavenly gifts. What the prophets announced is fully realized in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This Good News is that we have become children of God through grace and that we are called to act according to the New Covenant established by Jesus Christ. This covenant was made so that we could share in God’s holiness: “Be holy because I am holy.” The New Covenant introduces us into God’s family and, in our actions, the model we are to imitate and follow and identify ourselves with is Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

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?