Coffee With God

Reflection: Mark 10: 28-31

Jesus was addressing the disciples to get away from the dangers of being possessed by the devil of wealth and riches. People are frightened of being possessed by the devil. Material riches is one of those ways how the devil can possess the humans. Thus, yesterday we reflected on the words of Jesus: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God.” It is in this context that in today’s gospel Peter says, “Look at us. We left everything and followed you.” As always, Mark uses the voice of Peter to represent the group of the disciples who gave up their families and their trade to follow the master. But, Mark in the following chapters would tell us that Peter and his companions had not really left behind all their attachments – their own self-reliance, or their need for prestige and position. Claretian Father Paulson Veliyanoor, in his reflections on the passage says, “there were far more important but subtle attachments they had not yet given up. Almost immediately after Peter’s declaration, we have the selfish request from James and John: “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” They gave up material possessions alright, but the attachment to positions and honours had not left them. Jesus mentions a number of things and people should be left behind for the cause of the Kingdom. It is interesting to note that among those things and people, no mention was made about wives or husbands. Jesus had already made the point that the husband and wife should became one flesh, yoked together by God. He also gives a list of things and people that a disciple would receive a hundredfold. The list includes brothers and sisters, mothers and children – but there is no mention of fathers. In his Kingdom, all are to be like children and we have only one Father – the God. Mark obviously had in mind the situation of his community of disciples in Rome. The experience of the unity, affection and mutual commitment within the community of disciples would be immeasurably more bonding than the ties of natural family. The promise of a hundredfold is the result of leaving all for the sake of Jesus and for the sake of his gospel. Today’s gospel calls on us for a conversion of heart and a radical change in our relationships, where we share in the “enough” and the “hundredfold” that God has given us. In this plan of God, no one is regarded greater or smaller than others, because we all share the same image of God.