Daily Catholic Lectio
Tue, 28 May 2024
Eighth Week in Ordinary Time – Tuesday
1 Peter 1:10-16. Mark 10:28-31
Reward of discipleship
The young man who wished to follow Jesus could only make it halfway by observing the commandments. He could not walk further – he was overburdened with his riches. In this context, Peter raises the question, ‘What would happen to us, who have left everything and followed you?’
Answering Peter, Jesus puts forward the reward of discipleship that is both material and spiritual, this worldly and next worldly.
(a) Renouncing everything means obtaining everything.
(b) Renunciation makes room for internal freedom. In this internal freedom, we are able to embrace everyone as our own. Saint Mother Teresa of Kolkata puts it: “As I renounced the child of my own, through religious commitment of chastity, I am able to own a thousand children as my own.”
(c) ‘The first will be last, and the last will be first’—the young man who was first in wealth becomes last in discipleship; the disciples, who were last in terms of material possessions, become first in inheriting the life eternal.
(d) Jesus offers a ‘hundredfold’ return not just material things, but a richer life filled with faith, community, and purpose. Following Jesus may also involve ‘persecutions’ (v. 30).
There is an upside to following Jesus – true riches, a new family, and eternal life (v. 30).
In the first reading, offering the hope of the revelation of Christ to the persecuted community members, Peter underlines the need for patience.
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The gap between what we have lost for Christ and what we gain from him is to be filled with hope (Jubilee A. D. 2025, bite 109).
Fr. Yesu Karunanidhi
Archdiocese of Madurai
Missionary of Mercy
# Be M.er.cy.Fool
Yesu Karunanidhi 
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