We have given up everything and followed You
Peter's question is also our question and although at first glance it is quite a materialistic question but deep down we all have similar thoughts. This question, such calculating "what will I get out of it" is a human thing. Peter asks: We have left everything and followed you, so what will we get? Well, Lord Jesus we followed You, but what will we get out of it? After all, it must be profitable for us? There is a "world approach" in this question
Because for us - people - everything must always pay off, be in line, the balance must be positive, because when it turns out to be negative, our business will collapse.
Peter asks the Teacher on behalf of all those who have made a revolutionary step in life. Here we have left everything and followed you. The question is hidden, but it is easy to guess. Peter seems to be asking: what about us? On the end WE followed you, we left everything. It is right? We chose this path, we chose the path with Jesus. We are in the community of the Church. What next? Is this choice really a good one? After all, in comparison with the choice of people "from this world", our decisions, our choices are less attractive at least apparently.
In answering Peter's question, Jesus also makes a promise to each of us. ”Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel 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”. The Church is the place where we experience this gift. We can experience this even more in the smaller communities of the Church. Ties with brothers and sisters in the Community are sometimes stronger than family ties. After all, often the family does not understand our commitment to Christ and in the Community everyone lives the same values. This is the essence of the fact that God does not want to take anything from us.
A great promise but that's not all because there is also a promise for everyone who has chosen to respond to Jesus' call. Anyone who leaves something to which he is attached will receive a hundred times as much and, of course, eternal life. And it is not a fairy tale or an advertising gimmick. Jesus really gives us such gifts. If we respond positively to his call, if we are ready to give up what is important to us. If we throw it off the pedestal in favor of Jesus - our Lord and Savior - then miracles happen and we really get a hundred times more. Answer Jesus' call and become his disciple. And if we give up on something it will sooner or later bear fruit .So let us not be afraid to take up this challenge and follow Christ. He won't take anything away from us. On the contrary, He wants to give us even more.
Let us consider one more sentence from today's Gospel: “many that are first will be last, and the last will be first." With the same words, the Lord Jesus concluded the parable of the workers in the vineyard. Also with the same words ends the warning of the Lord Jesus that some of His followers will see that, “people will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in the kingdom of God. For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last” (Lk 13:29 -30).
The words "many first will be last and the last first" are both a warning and a promise. These words were most dramatically fulfilled with Judas and the good thief. Judas was clearly one of the first in God's Kingdom, and this thug and bandit who was crucified on the right side of the Lord Jesus was undoubtedly going straight to eternal damnation. Yet it was Judas who lost himself, and the good thief allowed Jesus to find him at the last moment.
To understand the meaning of this warning and the promise that "the many first will be last and the last first," let us note that the Lord Jesus did not say that all the first will be last, or that all the last will be first. Of the 12 apostles, 11 remained the first forever, the evil thief lived a cursed life and died with a curse on his lips remained last. The Lord Jesus only wants his friends to be warned against excessive self-confidence, and at the same time to give hope to even the greatest sinners.
The whole Gospel resounds with the warning and hope contained in these words that "the many first will be last and the last first". We still read in the Gospels about the unbelief of those who were especially called to faith, and about the conversions of those who seemed to be unbelievers. “Amen, I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you” (Mt 21:31).
Until Tomorrow
fr. george