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 of father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel who will not receive a hundred times more in this present age: house 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."
The Gospel of the Lord.
Yesterday's Gospel was about the young man who ran up to Jesus and asked, "Lord, what must I do to be saved?" Jesus answered, "Follow the commandments." "Lord, I have followed the commandments since my youth." "Then, if you would be saved, give up all that you have to the poor and come and follow me." And the young man turned away saddened, for he had much property.
Then in today's Gospel Jesus responds to yesterday's Gospel and promises "a hundred times more in this present age" to those who have given up family and property to follow Jesus.
He defended the commandment to honour one’s father and mother (Mk 7:10-13), but here he was asserting freedom from control by one’s family. The call to discipleship is not necessarily in conflict with family, but in case of conflict it has to take priority over it.
Here we have the oft-repeated paradox of the Gospel, set off very clearly against yesterday’s account of the rich young man: when we try to possess something we lose it; it is only when we are prepared to give it away that it really becomes ours (Mt 10:39; 16:25; Mk 8:30; Lk 9:24).
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