The Reward
Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions, and in the age to come, eternal life.” Mark 10:29-30
Now In The Present Age – There is hardly a more difficult verse to understand in this materialistic age than Jesus’ comment recorded here. You see, I believe that Jesus speaks the truth. When He says that those who leave everything behind for His sake and for the sake of the good news will receive here and now one hundred times more, I don’t doubt Him. The problem is that I don’t see it. I don’t see more houses and more farms and all the rest. In fact, what I see more of is found in that little addition, “along with persecutions.” This verse puts my faith in God’s benevolence to the test. I know Jesus doesn’t lie, but the evidence seems to be against Him – until I notice what’s missing from the increase.
Read the verse again. The list of one hundred-fold increases leaves out one critical category. Do you see it? You leave behind “father,” but you don’t get “fathers.” Why do you suppose Jesus includes one hundred times everything else but fails to mention “fathers?” This missing piece is the clue to understanding all the rest. When I choose to follow Jesus, I leave behind my earthly father, but I do not gain more earthly fathers. I gain only one Father, the real Father of the faithful. There is only one Father. That tells me that all the rest of these hundred-fold gains fall within the one Father’s kingdom. And then I see that I do gain houses and farms, brothers and sisters, children and mothers because I am transferred to a new kingdom where all that I have and all that every other citizen of this kingdom has is jointly held in the name of the King. My life, here and now, is suddenly filled with hundreds of brothers and sisters and children in the faith. My assets explode as the stewardship of others becomes available to me. I find that I have the love and care of hundreds of mothers, lifting and supporting me as one of God’s children. I leave behind a constrained world where I thought that what I owned was mine. I enter a world where all that God provides to His family becomes available to me and to everyone who follows Him. One Father opens His treasury distributed through all His children.
Jesus is right. When I let go of my possessions, I inherit God’s provision. I gain God’s graciousness, with persecution, for I cannot move from the world of “I, me, mine” to the world of God’s distributed treasury without encountering the attacks of the enemy. Wherever God’s benevolence supports a community of wealth distributed, the enemy will attempt to reinstate personal accumulation. God gives. The enemy hordes.
I won’t find an extra million in my bank account. I won’t get land deeds in the mail. I won’t discover a long-lost relative. But I will find hundreds who share their lives with mine, who stand up for me, comfort me, stick closer than brothers and sisters, and can’t wait to help when I am in need. I will be rich beyond measure – one hundred-fold – because all that the Father has will be mine to use for Him, nun en to kairo touto (now, in this opportune time).
