Photo credit: Ze Valdi
“Then Peter answered and said to Him, ‘See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?’ ” Matthew 19:27.
Peter’s question is a spin-off from Jesus’ encounter with the rich young ruler. He had heard the standard from Jesus’ own lips: total commitment. He sizes the twelve up…and they measure up. They had done what He commanded…they are living the call. They had left their fishing nets and their professions. They are 24/7 in His journey. They aren’t perfect…but they are following. In view of that, “what shall we have?”
The question is somewhat bothersome. It seems so…well, works-orientated and self-centered. Not much different than the rich young ruler in attitude and mind-set. It sounds like tit-for-tat, doesn’t it? We’ve done this…what are You going to do?
Yet, it’s a legitimate question. Investment is to yield return. Sowing is to yield harvest. Asking is to yield receiving. Obedience is to yield reward. Cause is to yield effect. It’s God’s universal law of order…a reflection of His character. He is neither arbitrary in His nature nor random in His rule. He is a God of sequence…reason…balance.
The quandary for Peter is this: If the riches of the rich young ruler didn’t yield eternal life and we (who are not rich) have left all to follow You, what assurance do we have that there will be a yield…that eternal life is ours?
It’s a question that has to do with the character of God: is He fair? Is He equitable? It trails what went on with the rich young ruler and it prefaces a parable Jesus will tell to verify God’s justice.
It all centers around the issue of eternal life: who qualifies? Well, no one does…because none of us can meet God’s holy requirements. We’re all on a level playing field. Our riches can’t buy it. Our good works can’t earn it. Yet eternal life can be ours…because of His mercy. God is fair.
“…We have left all and followed You. What shall we have?” Well…thrones, houses, lands, family and eternal life! I find it interesting that Jesus did not rebuke Peter for the question, but validates it by giving an answer. It’s directive for the disciples but inclusive of every follower of all times. It is futuristic yet immediate. It speaks to the eternal yet encapsulates the temporal. It’s intangible yet tangible. It’s hope of reward that begins in the here-and-now world…a down payment of things to come. It is not “pie in the sky”…a “carrot before your nose”. Commitment will yield a harvest that begins now and carries on into eternity.
The “now” yield will be plentiful…it’s a hundredfold. What you have given up for Jesus’ sake will be given back beyond what you can ask or think. It is not tit-for-tat…God giving back in proportion to what you’ve given. No, His reward for your following is beyond what you deserve…grace that isn’t stingy and miserly. It’s that mercy again. God is fair.
I get all of that; but I have pondered for weeks now the last verse in this chapter of Matthew 19, verse 30: “But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” It seems so…well, out there. I can understand it in the context of the parable that followed…but I can’t get my head around it in the context of what went before.
The conclusion I have drawn is this: as God is fair in His bestowal of eternal life and as He is fair in rewarding those who have followed Him, so He is fair regardless of the tenure of that following. Those who have followed all their life (“But many who are first…”) will have no more advantage than those who have followed on their deathbed (…and the last first"). Eternal life is eternal life. That reward will be the same, no matter the jurisdiction and journey of the following. That reward is not founded on man’s work of following but on God’s character of mercy. He is fair.
However, I wonder if we don’t question the fairness of God as we walk this journey called life? You know, you’re a faithful employee and work really hard but the promotion goes to someone else…you’re diligent in your studies but a classmate crams at the last minute and pulls off top grades…you scrimp to pay your bills but you have a friend who “everything he touches turns to gold”.
This “is God fair” question has been (and can continue to be) something I’ve grappled with it in the journey of Christian ministry. It often seems that my efforts, energy, devotion yields a limited harvest…that I believe for so much but deliver so little. I watch others achieve things I’ve dreamed of but have never seen materialize…and they seem to do it so easily. I look at my skill set and find it doesn’t match my dreams…that I don’t have the gifting for the things I long to achieve in ministry. And I come up thinking and feeling God is not fair.
But then, I go back to who God is: He is just…He is righteous…He is merciful. He never makes a mistake…He never calls to something He doesn’t equip for. His ways are perfect, past finding out. He looks for faithfulness not success. He rewards…not because of my efforts but because that is His character. He is “the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6.
And then I remember His “here and now” rewards: cabins we’ve enjoyed that were someone else’s cabin, time-shares that belonged to another but given to us for a needed get-away, the houses we’ve lived in that defied our “pocket book”, the friends who became family, the “life of faith” that has allowed us to witness God’s financial resources all these years. And I know, in the midst of my doubt, that God is fair.
I have sowed…a harvest will come. That’s God’s law of order. He is fair…and faithful.
Marcia
