Giving It All Away

Mark 10:17-30:

As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus answered him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not defraud; honor your father and your mother.” He replied and said to him, “Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth.” Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, “You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” At that statement his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions. Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” The disciples were amazed at his words. So Jesus again said to them in reply, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “For human beings it is impossible, but not for God. All things are possible for God.” Peter began to say to him, “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.”

Blog:

The Ten Commandments are pretty simple, but they are very hard to keep perfectly in this world (unless, of course, your name is Jesus Christ).  While they are really tough to keep 100% of the time, they are quite simple in what they Command us to do and not to do.  And, to top it off, God Himself (in the form of Jesus Christ) came down from His Heavenly Throne to make sure that we had full-clarity on how to apply the Ten Commandments in our lives (see Matthew 5).  While it is infinitely hard in our earthly flesh to keep all of the Commandments (think a camel going through the eye of a needle “hard”), Jesus reminds us in the Gospel that we cannot do this on our own and simply need to ask God each and every day in all things for His Help and Guidance while we keep trying to do our best.  The beautiful Promise that Jesus makes to St. Peter (and to all of us) is, that when we give-up everything for Him, we will “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.”  We shouldn’t be too surprised when we’re being “persecuted” in this world while following Jesus – it just means that we’re right on the Spiritual Target where God wants us to be.  So, let’s do our best to “give it all away” and surrender completely to Him while begging God for the Power of the Holy Spirit to do His Best.  The same Power (the Holy Spirit) that raised Jesus from the dead actually lives in each and every person who accepts Jesus into their hearts.  While we’ll always fall short on this side of Heaven, Jesus Promises us so much more – both now and in the Eternity to come.