Life More Abundant
That ought to have set the disciples' minds at rest. Perhaps it did. In any case the focus of the conversation changes swiftly. Peter is the catalyst:
Then Peter began to say to Him, "See we have left all and followed you (Mark 10:28).
According to Matthew, he also added:
"Therefore what shall we have?" (Matt. 19:27.)
It was an appropriate question. After all, Jesus had offered the rich young ruler treasure in heaven if he left all. Was this promise applicable to the disciples as well?
No doubt there is a temptation to censure Peter for greed. But why? Already the disciples had been specifically taught to store up eternal wealth (Matt. 6:19-21; Luke 12:32-34). It is not selfish to take an interest in matters Jesus Himself has told us to be concerned about. It is not wrong to seek what He tells us to seek.
It is wrong not to seek. It is, in fact, a sin to refuse to lay up heavenly treasure when we are explicitly commanded to do it. Moreover, the effects on our hearts of not doing it will be calamitous. For where our treasures are, there our hearts will be also!
The rich young ruler's heart was on earth. The thought of losing his earthly treasures saddened him. But Peter and the other disciples had abandoned everything for Jesus. It was only natural that they should be curious about their heavenly reward.
Our Lord's answer to this query is memorable:
Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel's, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time -houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions- and in the age to come, eternal life (Mark 10:29-30).
The answer was rich, exciting, and sobering. There were compensations to be experienced in the present age -along with its troubles- and there was compensation in the age to come as well.
With regard to the present age, the reward was to come in the form of rich personal relationships. And how often the servants of Christ have proved the truth of that guarantee! Leaving behind their earthly families, traveling often to the remote quarters of the globe, they have discovered new relationships created by the shared gospel of Jesus Christ. In those souls, therefore, whom they have won to Christ, in those to whom they have ministered the truth, they have found new brothers and sisters, new mothers and children. Homes have been opened to them and lands laid at their service as though they owned them themselves. And the depths of the spiritual communion established in this way with men have often seemed to be indeed a hundredfold more rich than those ties which Christ's servants have left behind. No doubt, in fact, it was in the spirit of these very words of Jesus that Paul greets "Rufus . . . and his mother and mine" (Rom. 16:13)!
But if obedience to Jesus enriched a man's temporal lot, it equally enriched his eternal one. And here the reward was... "eternal life"!
Yes, a reward! Plainly presented as such. But a reward belonging to the future age, not to the present one.
And thus Jewish theology was right -in part. Eternal life would be awarded meritoriously in a future day. What that theology failed to perceive was that, for such a reward to be within man's reach, eternal life must first be received as a gift.
Eternal life, be it understood, is no static entity, no mere fixed and unchanging object. Eternal life is the very life of God Himself, and as such its potentials are without limit. Had not Jesus Himself affirmed:
I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly (John 10:10; emphasis added).
Yes, the possibilities were as infinite as the life itself. But to have that life more abundantly, one must first have it. To receive the enrichment of that life as a future reward, one must first accept it as a free gift.
The rich young ruler had put the cart before the horse. He had asked how to earn life before receiving it. He had inquired about God's rewards, before seeking His gift. Jesus had sought to push him back to the proper starting point, but one thing remained true. Leaving all for Christ did lead to heavenly treasure after all.
The rich young ruler was by no means ready to do that yet. The disciples had already done it. It was well for them, therefore, to hear about it. It was needful for them to discover that both present and future experience would be enriched and enhanced by their loyalty and commitment to Christ.
There was no need, then, to envy the rich young ruler at all. Perhaps he seemed to be far ahead of them in all respects. But the balance sheets of eternity could reverse that appraisal.
After all, Jesus assures them, "many who are first will be last, and the last first"! (Mark 10:31.)
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