Peter said to him, "We have left everything to follow you!"
Peter is not complaining. But he has just observed a rich man decide to hang onto his wealth and go back home rather than sell out and follow Jesus.
Now Peter reminds Jesus that he and the others have left everything behind to become His students.
He’s not griping, but there is definitely an unspoken question in Peter’s statement. They sacrificed their homes, their families, their hopes for financial gain to follow Jesus. So what’s in it for them?
It’s interesting the Teacher doesn’t condemn the self-interest behind the question hanging in the air. Isn’t it logical to assess the outcomes of any decision? That’s how we’re wired.
"I tell you the truth," Jesus replied, "no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields… and in the age to come, eternal
life.
Is the Teacher exaggerating a bit here? We don’t have a problem with the eternal life promise, but a hundred homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, children and fields in this lifetime?
No, the Teacher is right again. One day soon these students will be sent out into the world to preach the gospel. Then they will experience the truthfulness of these words.
Every new student they make will open their home to them. The fruit of a hundred fields will sustain them. Their lives will be filled with spiritual relatives who will love them as dearly as family!
This is still the way it is for students of Jesus today who sacrifice for His sake. And why we’re not complaining either. Like the Teacher said,
But many who are first will be last, and the last first.
The church - Jesus' church - our spiritual body - brothers and sisters in Christ - are such an incredible blessing!
ReplyDeleteHere again we see Jesus comparing the physical to the spiritual. Physical family, homes, and fields to our brothers and sisters in Christ, and their generosity.
Hopefully, our pysical families will also be our spiritual family. What a blessing that is to know.
The spiritual blessings we receive in Christ are so much more valuable than simple monetary riches!
Yet even with finances most of us are blessed more than we realize, with more than we need.
We are blessed beyond our deserving! Probably beyond our actual comprehension! Thanks be to God and His Son Jesus Christ through whom we have received such blessings!
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called thechildren of God! (1 John 3:1)