Reading: Mark 10:28—31 Peter reminded Jesus they had “put aside everything to follow him.” Jesus then seems to have anticipated the unspoken question. He interrupts Peter and tells him the benefits they would receive. But the benefits hinge on something many of us might miss. What is done must be done for Christ, not for selfish, personal gain.
“I give you my word,” Jesus told Peter, “there is no one who has given up home, brothers and sisters, mother or father, children or property, for me and for the gospel who will not receive in this present age a hundred times as many homes, etc.”
“For me and for the gospel.” We must not miss that essential point. Whatever it is we do, whether a denial or a positive action, it is to be done for Christ. The promises are not to those who do things for the purpose of getting a reward. The promises are not to those who give up things in order to get some-thing out of it. For instance: “I’m going to Mass today so I can have my sins forgiven.” “I’m going to pray the rosary every day so I can become holy.” Our motives for giving up or doing anything good is not to be for personal gain, but purely for Jesus Christ and the spread of his good news.
Having our sins forgiven, being made holy, gaining heaven are results of Christian living, they are not to be the motives. But they often are our motives, aren’t they? Purity of intention is probably far from all of us. It is good to be occasionally reminded, though, that the essence of Christian living is the total giving of ourselves to Christ just because he is Christ. Let us ask not what God can do for us, but what we can do for God.
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