Peter began to say to Jesus,
"We have given up everything and followed you."
Peter and the other disciples had already done, basically, what the rich young man could not. Or had they? After all, they had less to tie the down to begin with. Had they really passed through the eye of needle so as to be saved? They were so impressed by what Jesus said to the rich young man that it sounded as though salvation wouldn't be possible for anyone at all. And indeed Jesus confirmed the fact that, "For human beings it is impossible". But Peter, perhaps recognizing he had given up less to follow Jesus than would have been required of the young man, asked for confirmation of the fact that he and the other disciples really had made the required choice. He left his net and his livelihood and chose treasure in heaven. But how could he have done so if it was impossible for human beings? Yet Jesus did not deny that he had done so. It must have been grace. Grace enabled Peter, James, and John to leave their nets. Grace enabled Matthew to leave his post as a tax collector. The same grace had been offered to the rich man, when Jesus looked upon him with compassion, but was not accepted or embraced.
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
For the disciples it was not only a matter of what they gave up. What mattered more was their reason for doing so. It was not the negatives or the lesser positive things that they left behind. It was the greater good, the one thing necessary, that they chose to replace them that made all the difference. Thus it was insufficient to merely sell one's property to the poor, for instance. It was not noble to leave brothers or sisters or mother or father for something less than Jesus himself. The invitation was not to be apart from others and have nothing. It was to be with Jesus and therefore to have everything. Peter and the others had made an initial choice in that direction. But to reap the fruit of the promise they had to continue to live for Jesus and the Gospel. The blessings promised to those who did so were not greater material blessings, but rather spiritual. They were such as would not even register to those with earthly priorities. But to those who sought first the kingdom they would amount to much more than whatever was left behind.
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.
We receive a new land and a new spiritual family. But this seems like a tedious obligation to those with an earthly mindset. Only followers of Jesus realize the treasure we have been given in the Church. It is in fact the case that even persecutions are not only part of the plan, but, in a sense, genuine treasures, since they help to refine us like gold in the fire, equipping us to follow Jesus ever more closely, and to choose the one thing necessary above other things with more and more of our whole hearts. When we do so we realize that we really have been granted the great privilege of seeing "things into which angels longed to look". Knowing what lies ahead for us makes us sober, but compels us to set our "hopes completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ". We can't be holy without God's help. But if we choose Jesus we will have all the help we need.
Songs In His Presence - Prayer Of Augustine
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