Mark 10:28-31 NRSVue
28Peter began to say to him, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.” 29Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the good news, 30who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. 31But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”
“Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.”
Reflection on Mark 10:28-31
Inspiration from 2025-03-04 Daily Prayer
We can never outdo the Lord in generosity. Whatever we can give to him has already been his gift to us. The hundredfold is nothing in comparison to the gift of our God giving himself to us in love, as he wishes to do for each of us. In his Spiritual Exercises St Ignatius urges us to ponder on this always with ‘deep affection’.
Because of the gift of our free will, we can always give joy to the Lord by choosing to say yes to his will. We pray for generosity and discernment and for the grace to make good use of this gift.
Further reflection
Disciples must be truly free to follow Jesus and serve his kingdom, even if this means leaving relatives and friends. Jesus promises them instead a community of social and religious fellowship now and in the age to come. Can I help to develop such fellowship with my fellow-Christians?
Lord, grant that I may see you more clearly in the outcasts of this world, love you more dearly in the poor and the rejected, and follow you more nearly by responding to the needs of your deprived sisters and brothers.
I reflect on this exchange as St Peter might have done at the end of his life. What has it meant to me to follow Jesus? What have I given up? What was my hundredfold, in the way of joy, contentment, peace of soul?
What God offers to us, and what Jesus offers to his disciples, is a gift of God, not our right. Whatever place we think we have with God, is God’s to give. In other places he promises the sheer generous gift of his love to all. Maybe last and first will be the same after all, and it’s only humans that talk in such terms! Pray in thanks that all of us belong to God.
Peter's experience as a fisherman told him that taking stock was necessary from time to time. Although he was often enthusiastic and spontaneous, now he seems to panic as he suddenly realises that he may be left with nothing. I pray you for a deeper trust and faith in the message of Jesus, in his presence to me. Aware of anything that causes me to be too cautious or calculating, I ask God's help.