Scripture Refections

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.” (Mark 10:29-31)
 
One of the great struggles for the Church over the centuries has been how to faithfully transition from times of external opposition to times of peace, and from times of peace back to times of external opposition.
 
In the early days, because Christianity was generally rejected, Christians had to live with a sense of urgency and commitment—no one became a Christian casually. Becoming a Christian could mean losing your family and position. Money was thought about differently, not just because Jesus gave us new priorities, but also because (practically speaking) you could lose it at any point. When Jesus told the rich young man to give his money away and follow him, the command made sense on multiple levels. If the followers of Jesus were putting their lives on the line by following Jesus, thinking money guaranteed security was foolish. You couldn’t follow Jesus without risking everything, so why not give up everything as an act of love of your own volition? Christians sacrificing everything and living in a new community was not just a way to be faithful to Jesus; it was also a way to disarm the threats of being disowned and disinherited.
 
As Christianity became mainstream, becoming a Christian no longer came at the same cost. Many early Christians lamented the fact that people could now casually join the faith. There was no longer a threat to property and family ties. You could be respectable in the world and a Christian at the same time, and many Christians began to try to hold onto the things of this world—money, family ties, and reputations. The monastic movement was, in part, an answer to this. People who wanted a rigorous form of the faith gave away everything, relinquished family ties, and sought to follow Jesus without hindrance.
 
This pattern has repeated itself over the history of Christianity. Whenever it has been easy to be a Christian, the Church (in general) forgets the commands of profound sacrifice and rigorous community, and so a minority seeks that deep level of commitment through monastic communities, missionary societies, and sacrificial ministry to the poor. When the culture turns against Christianity, everyone is thrust into the boat of deep sacrifice—casual Christians fade away and deep sacrifice becomes normal, not just for the rigorous minority.
 
There is much speculation that we are entering one of those periods of cultural opposition to Christianity, one of those times when it is not easy to be a casual Christian. In one sense, this is frightening, because whenever the culture doesn’t support Christianity, it costs something to be a Christian. But in another sense, it is exactly in those periods that normal Christians—not just the rigorous minority—learn to live as citizens of the Kingdom of God in regards to money, relationships, and reputation. Jesus said plainly that the last in this world would be first in his. We should hold the things of this world loosely, and expect that God will fully compensate in his own way those who lose what is precious in the eyes of the world.
 
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