Discourse 26.

A hundredfold acquisition.

10.28-31 — "And Peter began to say to Him, 'Behold, we have left everything and followed You. And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is none that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake and for the sake of the gospel, and hath not received this time in this time in the midst of persecution a hundredfold more houses, and brothers and sisters, and fathers, and mothers, and children; and lands, but in the age to come eternal life. And many will be the first last, and the last first."

"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God." "Who can be saved?" asked the surprised disciples. Jesus Christ answered: "With men it is impossible, but not with God, for with God all things are possible!" However, the following question is inevitable: If even those who, because of their wealth, are unable to enter the kingdom of God, although they can be saved by God, then what will be the benefit of those who have lost everything on earth by giving away their wealth for the sake of following Jesus? In this case, do not those who accepted the call of Jesus Christ to follow Him – beggars, by human standards – look, to put it mildly, foolish?

In fact, this is what Peter's next question is about: "Behold, we have left everything and followed You." What Peter means is explained in the Gospel of Matthew, in which Peter further says: "What then shall we have?" (Matthew 19:27). That is: "What will we get for this?" Peter had just seen a man who had not heeded Jesus' call to "Follow me!" And he, Peter, and his friends listened to Him, and so Peter directly and frankly asked Jesus what he and his friends would get for this. Isn't the price of discipleship, of following Jesus, too high? Lose everything, and then what?

"Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, there is none that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake and for the sake of the gospel, and hath not now in this time in the midst of persecution a hundredfold more houses, and brethren, and sisters, and fathers, and mothers, and children; and lands, but in the age to come eternal life."

Generally speaking, the idea of a generous reward for the renunciation of earthly goods was traditional in the Jewish tradition. But it was always about the reward for earthly sufferings endured for the sake of the Law, about the reward for the righteous according to the Law. For example, we read in Philo of Alexandria: "These have left their children, parents, brothers and sisters, neighbors and friends, in order to find an eternal inheritance instead of the earthly" (Sacr AC 129). What distinguishes Jesus' statement is motivation. The disciple suffers for Jesus, not for the Law. He is experiencing these adversities now, following Jesus.

Yes, indeed, the price of discipleship in the early Church was very high. After all, there were terrible persecutions. And a person's conversion to Christianity may have meant the loss of home, friends, and loved ones, but joining the church gave him a larger family than the one he had left behind, and in the age to come, eternal life, which the rich young man asked about. Its acquisition is much greater than the loss of self-denial!

In the mouth of Jesus Christ, everything becomes paradoxical and unexpected for those who heard Him. We hear of a complete revaluation of values, which arises from the fact that God's judgment is different from human judgments: the former are last, the latter are first. – It was believed that those who did not "deserve" and "earned" the Kingdom of God would not get into it. Take, for example, children. After all, they have not yet earned anything, they have no "merit" of legitimate virtue in principle. And Jesus says that it is to them, who do not deserve and do not earn children, that the Kingdom of God belongs (Mark 10:13-14). – It would seem that a pious and pious young man who fulfills the commandments of the Law and strives for the Kingdom of God simply has to get into it. But in fact he departs from Jesus with sorrow (10:22). – It seems that the rich and powerful have every opportunity to deserve the Kingdom. But no: "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God" (10:25). "Jesus' disciples gave everything and gained nothing. This was obvious to everyone: everyone saw that they were beggars. But this is not the case, for they are rich: they have many more "brothers and sisters, and fathers, and mothers, and children, and lands," and in the age to come they will have eternal life (10:29-30). – We see only paradoxes. But such is the Gospel!

In fact, it must be admitted that Jesus Christ's promise of a "hundredfold" acquisition of "houses, and brothers and sisters, and fathers, and mothers, and children, and lands, and in the age to come eternal life," that this promise is rarely able to arouse enthusiasm and understanding not only among the contemporaries of Jesus and Peter, but also among the majority of our contemporaries. For rarely is anyone able to feel the joy of such a replacement of Christians beloved and close to society, people who pray next to you in church, with whom you most often have nothing in common, except that we stand together and pray on Sundays. Such is our Christian society, so different from that depicted, say, in the Book of the Acts of the Holy Apostles. What remains? There is only hope for guaranteed eternal life! And even that is not guaranteed if we are proud of our dedication and voluntary poverty.

This is what the words of Jesus Christ warn about. Of course, Peter and the disciples should not be proud that they left everything for the sake of Christ and the Kingdom. Such boasting is also wealth, putting oneself in the "first". For the followers of Jesus Christ, the warning is also true: "Many will be the first last, and the last first" (10:31). For "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for of theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ... Blessed are the crots: for they shall inherit the earth." (Matthew 5:3,5). The words of Jesus contain a warning against all pride, a warning that the final judgment of man belongs to God, who alone knows the motives of the human heart.