Tuesday, 8th week Ordinary Time
DAILY GOSPEL COMMENTARY:
GOD IS NEVER OUTDONE IN GENEROSITY.
(Mk 10:28-31).
GOSPEL
Mk 10:28–31
Peter began to say to Jesus, “We have given up everything and followed you.” 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 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. But many that are first will be last, and the last will be first.”
Commentary from the Navarre Bible, St. Mark, (with permission)
- Jesus Christ requires every Christian to practise the virtue of poverty: he also requires us to practise real and effective austerity in the possession and use of material things. But of those who have received a specific call to apostolate — as in the case, here, of the Twelve — he requires absolute detachment from property, time, family etc. so that they can be frilly available, imitating Jesus himself who, despite being Lord of the universe, became so poor that he had nowhere to lay his head (cf. Mt 8:20).
- Giving up all these things for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven also relieves us of the burden they involve: like a soldier shedding some encumbrance before going into action, to be able to move with more agility.
- This gives one a certain lordship over all things: no longer the slave of things, one experiences that feeling St Paul referred to: “As having nothing, and yet possessing everything” (2 Cor 6:10). A Christian who sheds his selfishness in this way has acquired charity and, having charity, he has everything: “All are yours; you are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s” (1 Cor 3:22-23).
- The reward for investing completely in Christ will be fully obtained in eternal life: but we will also get it in this life. Jesus says that anyone who generously leaves behind his possessions will be rewarded a hundred times over in this life. He adds ‘with persecutions’ (v.30) because opposition is part of the reward for giving things up out of love for Jesus Christ: a Christian’s glory lies in becoming like the Son of God, sharing in his Cross so as later to share in his glory: “provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Rom 8:17); “all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted’ (2 Tim 3:12).
- Giving up all these things for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven also relieves us of the burden they involve: like a soldier shedding some encumbrance before going into action, to be able to move with more agility.
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Dear friends, God is never outdone in generosity. For every one thing we give Him, He rewards us with a hundrefold! It is worth while following our Lord, to be faithful to him in every moment, to give up everything for his sake, to set no limit to our generosity where He is concerned. He says to us in the words of Saint John Chrysostom:
The gold that you plan to lend, give it to me, for I will give you better interest and better security. That body that you plan to enlist in someone’s militia, enlist it in mine, because I will outbid everybody in pay and reward… His love is great. If you wish to make him a loan, he is ready to receive it at lavish interest. If you wish to sow, he buys you the seed. If you wish to build, he says: build on my property! Why run after the things of men, who are poor beggars and are worth nothing? Run after God, who in exchange for little things will give you far greater
(St John Chrysostom, Homilies on St Matthew’s Gospel, 76, 4).
VIDEO COMMENTARY
TOPIC: WHAT’S IN IT FOR YOU IF YOU WILL EMBRACE GOD’S WILL?
The will of God for us is holiness. Holiness is anchored on our capacity to follow the greatest commandment, which is love. Our capacity and willingness to love should not depend on us being loved first but on us to be the giver of love always, to be like Jesus, to see and act like Jesus.
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