Jesus answering said, Verily I say to you, There is no one who has 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,
A rich man has just walked away from Christ. Peter speaks up for the group who stayed: "We have left everything and followed you." The Lord does not scold him. He redirects him, and everything turns on the words "for my sake and for the gospel."
Peter's remark sounds a little pleased with itself. The Lord still answered him kindly. One writer sums up that answer: nothing has been lost.
At this point Peter broke in and said, "Look, we have left everything and followed you." I think it was a pity that Peter said that. But the Lord's reply amounts to this: "You have made a very good thing out of it. It is a good thing for you that you did, Peter." If you have left all and followed Jesus, you have made a good thing out of it. You have not lost anything. What have you lost?
The reason Jesus gives has two halves. Only one Gospel records the second, which older translations word as "and the gospel's."
Note that only Mark mentions "and the gospel's." It is service that is so prominent here. Others may say, "for His sake." Here we read, "for my sake, and the gospel's." So the worth of Christ Himself is, as it were, tied to the service of Christ in this world.
The Lord promises a reward. So the obvious danger is that someone gives things up just to collect it. Commentators say this cannot work.
To leave for the reward would be worthless, and, what is more, it never lasts. Christ is the only effective attraction, the motive that governs a renewed heart... Rewards will follow later, but saints do not follow the rewards; they follow the Lord.
Another writer warns about a quieter form of self-interest: giving things up to look good.
The Lord's words, however, show that it is not the mere fact of leaving all that will be rewarded, but doing so from a right motive. It must not be done to exalt self, or even to gain a reward, but as the Lord says, "For my sake and the gospel's."
Verse 29 lists the losses one by one with or. The promise in verse 30 gathers them with and.
We should notice the disjunctive conjunction or in verse 29, and the connecting conjunction and in verse 30. One might be called to surrender "houses, or brothers, or sisters," and so on. Such a person shall receive a hundredfold, which is expanded into "houses, and brothers, and sisters," and so on. These two little words, or and and, add weight to the gracious declaration.
The hundredfold arrives as people — a circle far wider than the one left behind.
If we leave the circle of our unconverted and natural relations, we shall find we are in the far larger circle of the family of God. This may result in a measure of persecution from the world circle that we have left, but it is the pathway into life.
Some older translations add "wife" to the list in verse 29. No wife appears in the list of things given back in verse 30.
The Lord here omits "wife" — there is no promise to give him back this; this stands on other and its own ground... The word "mothers" shows that this is not meant in a natural sense only. Yet on the other side it is the enjoyment of real present things. In the Church a person finds what fills the gap a hundredfold, the gap made by these breaks... There may be infinitely more than a hundredfold for giving up a wife, in love to Christ and the Church, yet that is never made up in what is given back... Christ alone can make it up.
Some choose safety instead of standing for the Lord. One writer counts what that choice costs them.
Many young men are like Jonathan, when he did not fully follow David. They do not stand for the Lord. They escape persecution, but they escape more than that. They escape the support of Christ; they escape the enjoyment of the love of Christ; and they escape the privilege of being a witness for Christ.
- Motive — What you leave behind counts only if you leave it for Christ Himself. Giving things up to collect the reward is worthless, and it never lasts.
- Gospel — Mark alone adds "and the gospel," tying the personal worth of Christ to the service of Christ in this world.
- Or / And — You may lose only one thing — "house or brothers." He gives back the whole list — "houses, and brothers." Two small words carry the grace.
- Family — The hundredfold is the far larger circle of God's family, in place of what you left. A wife is the one thing the list does not give back.
- Persecutions — The promise carries a cost. Dodge the cost, and you also dodge the support of Christ and the privilege of speaking for Him.
that shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions, and in the coming age life eternal.
Peter has just said that he and the others left everything to follow Jesus, and the Lord answers with a promise on two levels: a repayment now, and eternal life in the age to come. So what is the hundredfold, why does it come with persecutions, and why does what comes back differ from what was given up?
Verse 29 gives the reason for the sacrifice, and one part of that reason appears only in Mark.
Note that only Mark mentions "and the gospel's." It is service that is so prominent here. Others may say, "for His sake." But here we read, "for my sake, and the gospel's." So the value of Christ Himself is, as it were, attached to the service of Christ in this world.
That motive rules out giving things up to collect the hundredfold later.
To leave for the reward would be worthless, and, what is more, it never lasts. Christ is the only attraction that works, the motive that governs a renewed heart. There is pasture for the sheep, there is the flock also; but the sheep follow Christ, for they know His voice. Rewards will follow by and by, but saints follow the Lord, not the rewards.
The relations that come back are not the ones left behind. They come from a different circle.
If we leave the circle of our unconverted and natural relations, we shall find we are in the far larger circle of the family of God. This may result in some persecution from the world circle we have left, but it is the pathway into life.
The size of the return also shows up in two small words.
Notice the separating word "or" in verse 29, and the joining word "and" in verse 30. A person might be called to surrender "houses, or brothers, or sisters," and so on. Such a person will receive a hundredfold, and the list then widens to "houses, and brothers, and sisters," and so on. These two little words, "or" and "and," add weight to the gracious declaration.
The return covers the everyday comforts of Christian life, with one thing left out of the list.
The hundredfold comes even in kind: in all the comforts, kindness, peace and enjoyments that belong to Christians here, with persecutions from the world, and in the age to come eternal life. The Lord here leaves out "wife." There is no promise to give him back this — that stands on its own separate ground… The word "mothers" shows that this is not meant in a natural sense only. Yet the counterpart is a real present enjoyment: in the Church you find what fills the gap these breaks have made, a hundredfold. In love to Christ and the Church, sacrificing a wife may bring infinitely more than a hundredfold. But it is never made up in kind.
The phrase sits inside the list of blessings, not after it.
They would enjoy much more than the wretched things of this life, but with persecutions. So they have the promise of the life that now is, as well as of the life to come. It is not a promise of riches, perhaps, but of the true enjoyment of all that is in the world according to God's will, and as gifts from God. Yet they will have to deal with the opposition of a world that does not know God.
Older translations read "the world to come" here. The word behind it means an age.
The word translated "world" in the following passages is aiōn: it may therefore be rendered "the age to come."… He also made a promise to those who gave up property or earthly ties for the sake of the kingdom of God. Besides present blessing, they would have eternal life in the age to come.
The repayment in this life is spiritual, and eternal life already belongs to the believer.
Receiving a hundredfold does not only speak of reward in heaven; even in this life the spiritual reward will be great… This is of course spiritual repayment. Certainly the believer has eternal life now, and eternal life goes beyond the world to come. But he will enjoy that life more fully then than he can in present circumstances.
- Motive first. The promise covers only what is left "for my sake and the gospel's." Leaving things to collect a payback is worthless and never lasts.
- Gift, not wages. What comes back is a new circle: the family of God, filling the gap made by every break a hundred times over.
- Reach of the "and". You may give up one thing — house or brother or land. The Lord lists the return with "and": houses and brothers and lands together.
- One exception. The Lord names a wife among the things left, but not among the things restored. That stands on its own ground.
- Result, with a cost. The real enjoyment of present things comes with the world's opposition. Beyond it lies eternal life — held now, enjoyed far more fully in the age to come.