A Hard Saying Of Christ

This is a hard saying of Christ and a radical call to discipleship.

And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold, and will inherit eternal life.
Matthew 19.29, NRSV

Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life.
Mark 10.29-30

And he said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not get back very much more in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.’
Luke 18.29-30

the setting

This saying of Christ is clearly set in one vignette. Jesus states it after the encounter with the rich young ruler and after the inquiry by the Disciples. It is thus so in all three Synoptic Gospels.

The rich young ruler has much. When he abandons it all, if he does… he will have the reward of Discipleship with Christ. This is nothing short of a calling to “follow me.” For all intents and purposes, we see the rich young ruler grieve over the command and then leave.

The Disciples have little. Yet nonetheless they have left all to follow Christ. Little or much does not matter when one has abandoned all for Him. What will be their reward?

Their inquiry leads to Jesus’ saying above.

the nuances of this hard saying

The Synoptic Gospels have much in common. Many of the times the main point is verbatim in all three works.

However, this time it’s different. Although all three Gospels record the same saying, all three are different, slightly nuanced.

Matthew is the most succinct. His saying offers nothing that can’t be found in the other two accounts.

Mark offers the longest saying and does include one striking difference. The rewards in this life will come, “with persecutions.”

Luke offers one unspeakable difference to the list of sacrifices to be made, “or wife.”

conjecture on persecution

First of all I have been reticent to speak about persecution. Or rather, I was trained to be reticent to speak of persecution. After all, what do we know of persecution in America? Christians are being slaughtered in some other countries for the sake of the Gospel. What do we have to add to the dialogue on persecution?

Now my approach is shifting. This is due in part to the political climate of our era. I have said for years that we are being told to be tolerant of everyone, yet there is no tolerance for Bible believing Christians. In effect, Christians have been facing political persecution in recent years, unfortunately.

Recently, the death of Charlie Kirk struck me, not as an assasination, but as a martyrdom. I believe we witnessed physical persecution in America, a real martyr. This is something the rest of the world sees on a more regular basis.

There is a risk of persecution in the call to Discipleship.

conjecture concerning the wife in this saying

Then there is the nuance of the wife in Luke’s saying. To the list of close familial ties, Luke adds the wife.

What does he mean? With the access I have to the Early Church Fathers, I can find no ancient commentary on the topic.

At the best, Jesus is speaking of one who travels for the Gospel’s sake. Peter has a wife who is not listed among the women who travel with Jesus. Peter’s wife probably stays home. John Wesley doesn’t have a stellar marriage by today’s Christian standards. His wife prefers to stay home while he evangelizes all over England.

What about the worst case scenario? Is Jesus elevating the calling over marriage? If one spouse rejects the call is the other spouse to leave anyway in pursuit of the call? Certainly this cannot be the case. Yet it is there in Scripture, for us to grapple with. I have no answer. I’m merely raising the question.