suffering is an essential part: 8th week tuesday 2012 II

Jesus said that those who have given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or children or lands for his sake and for the sake of the Gospel, will receive a hundred times more now in this present age with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come.

So in a sense Jesus is telling us that our service to him and to the church, especially those which entail giving up father, mother, properties, children will be rewarded in this life, not later but even in this life.  And in the life to come he or she will be awarded eternal life.  I believe that’s clear.  But there is something curious in this passage.  Jesus also mentioned persecution, with persecution.  Jesus seems to be saying in the gospel that persecution is to be expected in the present life with the rewards promised.

It is true that the context of this gospel is the first systematic persecution of Christians by the Emperor Nero.  When the gospel was written by Mark, the first victims may have been already dead and that would include St. Peter and St. Paul and the first martyrs of the roman church. 

And so when they were driven out of their homes because of their faith in Jesus, they were never really lacking of homes when other Christians opened their doors for them, when fellow Christians became their brothers and sisters.  When their families denied them, they never lacked a Christian family to whom they would seek refuge, and an even more loving and warmer embrace when fellow Christians became their fathers and mothers.  When their villages and communities turned against them and banished them from their own, they were never really lacking of a community which accepted them and treated them as one of their very own.  This is what it meant then when the Lord promised them homes, families, properties with persecution.

But the message of rewards in this life commingled with persecutions is also true to us even now when persecutions are no longer much of a problem.  It can also mean that the giving of oneself to Jesus entails hardships and the more I give, the more difficulties will I encounter.  Isn’t this also our dilemma many times in our relationship with the Lord?  Probably you have heard of the story of St. Teresa of Avila when she one day complained to God about the many hardships she had to endure in serving him.  And God answered, that’s how I treat my friends.  And Teresa replied, no wonder you have so few friends.

The point I am making is this.  Do not equate your service to the Lord with the good life - free of problems, free of troubles, the hakuna matata philosophy of Lion King.  No.  The rewards come with persecutions.  Difficulties, sufferings, hardships are part of, an essential part of following the Lord.  Let us not fool ourselves that serving the Lord will always make us feel great.  It can be difficult too, and most often it is.