Lenten Check Up

How is Lent going for you? Have you thought about your mortality in a fresh light? Have you been learning and growing in repentance? How about things you might have given up for Lent? Are you growing desperate for those things? Are you becoming proud of your self-denial? Are you resting more on Jesus?

This week we will be looking at Mark 10:17-31, a passage that is commonly known as the story of the rich young ruler. As we will hear this Sunday, in this interaction Jesus drills down to the heart of what it means to inherit eternal life, that is a heart set solely on Jesus. There are many things that are of interest in this account, one of which is this exchange between Peter and Jesus toward the end of the account:
Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.”  Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will 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. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

As many of you probably are aware, strong tradition has it that Mark got his information for writing his Gospel from Peter. Peter doesn't pull any punches in his narration of the events, pegging himself as one who wants to prove himself by citing his own self-denial on the part of the Savior. It is an age old trap to be wary of; giving up in order to earn. Satan, the old judo master, would love to take our momentum toward obedience and turn it into debilitating pride.

One of the things I love about the way that Jesus responds to Peter is that he doesn't upbraid him for his answer, but what he does do is widen the lens. Jesus says if you follow me, you will receive a tremendous reward, both in this life and the age to come, but you will also endure persecutions. Because Christian discipleship is not a give up in order to earn religion, but rather a journey with a Savior who has given everything to secure an inheritance for us with the Father.