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At the beginning of His public life Our Lord’s object was by miracles, teachings, and the fulfillment of prophecies, so to attach His Apostles to Himself as to forestall outside pressure and the natural rebellion of the flesh against Himself as the Suffering Servant. But even when they had become devoted to Him and had accepted Him as the Messias and the Son of God, they shrank from the idea of the Crucifixion, even when He said it would be followed by the Resurrection. They were all like little Indians, each one wanting to be the chief. The darkness into which His death cast them was another proof of how little prepared they were for the scandal of the Cross. It was no wonder that Our Lord did not speak more often about His Cross; for the little they did hear, they did not want to hear or else they misunderstood.
I have still much to say to you,
But it is beyond your reach as yet.
JOHN 16:12
To prepare their souls for His lifework and also to indicate the conditions under which others would enter into His Kingdom, the Savior among other subjects dilated particularly on purity and poverty. Unregulated sex could become lust; unregulated desire for property could become avarice.
PURITY
The subject was occasioned by the Pharisees who came to ask Him if it was right for a man to put away his wife for any reason whatsoever. The reason why the Pharisees presented this question was because of a dispute between two rival schools of Jewish theology, namely, the school of Hillel and that of Shannai. One school held that divorce could be granted on trivial grounds; the other required evidence of serious sin before it would approve of divorce. The question was further complicated by the fact that divorce in those days was becoming very common; the Romans, who were masters of the country, practiced it openly and flagrantly. Furthermore, Herod, the ruler of the country under Rome, was living with his brother’s wife and had murdered John the Baptist.
The Divine Savior in answer to their enquiry reaffirmed what He had already said on the Mount, and also what was held from the beginning as regards husband and wife.
They are no longer two, they are one flesh;
What God, then, hath joined, let not man put asunder.
MATTHEW 19:6
When the disciples had heard the full remarks of Our Blessed Lord on this subject— though some perhaps were married, including Peter for certain—they went to the opposite extreme and concluded:
It is better not to marry at all.
MATTHEW 19:11
Here the Savior answered that because there were infidelities in some marriages, there must be others which would balance the excesses by self-denial. If there are excesses of the flesh, there must be those who will forgo even the legitimate pleasures of the flesh; if there are deordinations in the pursuit of property, there must be some who will voluntarily practice poverty; if there are some who are proud, there must be others who will not even insist upon their own rights, but will make reparation for acts of pride by humility.
Our Lord told the Apostles that it ought not be thought that it was better not to marry. Rather He said:
That conclusion, cannot be taken in by everybody,
But only by those who have the gift.
There are some eunuchs, who were so born from the mother’s womb,
Some were made so by men, and some have made
Themselves so for love of the Kingdom of Heaven;
Take this in, you whose
Hearts are large enough for it.
MATTHEW 19:11, 12
Celibacy is recommended as a wiser way, but is not required of the majority. Later on, Peter left his wife in order to preach the Gospel. When Our Blessed Lord recommended celibacy, it was very likely that the disciples were not thinking of it as applied to themselves, but rather were objecting to the severity of the Master’s teaching on the ground that it would deter men from entering marriage. His answer shows that they understood His meaning. Their error was in failing to realize to what sacrificial heights He would summon men for the sake of His Kingdom. He Who founded society and Who knew the compulsions of the sex instinct, nevertheless made room for a few who would be celibates. Some are born eunuchs; others, like Origen, have wrongly made themselves eunuchs; but there is a third class, those who, not by any physical act, but by an act of willful self-denial and self-abnegation, have set aside the pleasure of the flesh for the joys of the spirit; it is these He called eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven. Later on, St. Paul, hearing of this doctrine, wrote:
And I would have you free from concern.
He who is unmarried is concerned with God’s claim,
Asking how he is to please God;
Whereas the married man is concerned with the world’s claim
Asking how he is to please his wife;
And thus he is at issue with himself.
I CORINTHIANS 7:32, 33
Marriage is honorable; at no point did Our Savior say that it blotted out the spiritual sense, or man’s relations with God; but in celibacy or virginity the soul chooses Him as its exclusive Lover.
PROPERTY
Just as sex is a God-given instinct for the prolongation of the human race, so the desire for property as a prolongation of one’s ego is a natural right sanctioned by natural law. A person is free on the inside because he can call his soul his own; he is free on the outside because he can call property his own. Internal freedom is based upon the fact that “I am” external freedom is based on the fact that “I have.” But just as the excesses of flesh produce lust, for lust is sex in the wrong place, as dirt is matter in the wrong place, so there can be a de-ordination of the desire for property until it becomes greed, avarice, and capitalistic aggression.
In order to atone, repair, and make up for excess of avarice and selfishness, Our Blessed Lord now gave a second lesson in self-sacrifice to His Apostles. The occasion of the first lesson on purity was a pharisaical question about marriage; the occasion of the second was an enquiring young man. Our Blessed Lord had a chance to win him as a follower; but when He spoke of the Cross, He lost him. The young man wanted the prize, but the cost was too great. The youth who came was rich and also a synagogue official. The desire to be associated with Our Lord was manifested by the fact that he came running to Him and fell at His feet. As regards the uprightness of the youth there could be no doubt; his question to Our Lord was:
Master, Who art so good,
What good must I do to win eternal life?
MATTHEW 19:16
Unlike Nicodemus, he did not come at night, but openly avowed the goodness of the Master. The youth believed that he was not very far from the great attainment of eternal life; but all that he needed was just some further instruction and enlightenment. The Savior pointed to the fact that men knew enough, but they did not always do enough. And lest the young man rest in some imperfect idea of goodness, the Lord asked:
Why dost thou call Me good?
None is good except God only.
MARK 10:18
Our Lord was not objecting to being called good, but to being taken merely as a good teacher. The young man had addressed Him as a great teacher, but still as a man; he had admitted goodness, but still on the level of human goodness. If He were merely a man the title of essential goodness would not belong to Him. There was hidden in His answer an affirmation of His Deity; God alone is good. He was, therefore, inviting the young man to cry out, “Thou art Christ, the Son of the Living God.”
The young man admitted that he had kept the commandments since his youth. With that Our Lord fastened His eyes on him and conceived a love for him.
When the young man asked:
Where is it that I am still wanting?
MATTHEW 19:20
Our Lord answered:
If thou hast a mind to be perfect,
Go home and sell all that belongs to thee;
Give it to the poor,
And so the treasure thou hast shall be in heaven;
Then come back and follow Me.
MATTHEW 19:21
There was no condemnation of wealth here as there was no condemnation of marriage in the previous enquiry; but there was a higher perfection than the human. As a man might leave his wife, so also a man might leave his property. The Cross would demand that souls give up what they loved most and be content with the treasure in God’s hands. One may ask why did the Lord ask for such a sacrifice? The Savior allowed Zacchaeus the tax collector to keep half his goods; Joseph of Arimathea, after the Crucifixion, was described as rich; the property of Ananias was his own; Our Lord ate in the home of His wealthy friends in Bethany. But here it was a question of a young man who asked what was still wanting in the way of perfection. When the Lord proposed to him the ordinary way of salvation, namely, keeping the commandments, the youth was dissatisfied. He sought for something more perfect; but when the perfect way was proposed to him, namely, renunciation:
The young man went away sad at heart,
For he had great possessions.
MATTHEW 19:22
There are degrees in the love of God, one common and the other heroic. The common was the keeping of the commandments; the heroic was renouncement, the taking-up of the cross of voluntary poverty. The earnestness of the youth vanished; he kept his possessions and he lost the One Who would give him the Cross. Though the young man kept his possessions, he is described as going away “sorrowful.”
When the young man left, Our Lord said to His Apostles:
With that difficulty will those who have riches
Enter God’s kingdom…
It is easier for a camel to pass through a needle’s eye,
Than for a man to enter the kingdom of God
When he is rich.
MARK 10:23–23
Our Lord then turned to His followers whom He had called to the perfect way, and made use of this incident to speak to them of the virtues of poverty. Just as the disciples before had wondered if anyone should ever marry, now they wondered how anyone could ever be saved. The disciples were “astonished” and asked:
Why then, they said to themselves,
Who can be saved?
MARK 10:26
One wonders what thoughts circulated in the brain of one of the disciples, who was even then pilfering from the bag what was intended for the poor. The disciples were those who had at least implicitly associated riches with the blessings of heaven, just as in modern history there have not been wanting those who held Divine favor was always known by economic prosperity. The rich come to the top because God has blessed them, it is said, and the poor go to the bottom because God does not favor them. Now, to be told that wealth was a hindrance to the Kingdom of God, was in another form the “scandal of the Cross.” The Apostles knew that they had given up their boats and their fishing nets, little enough though they were; but still they did not quite feel themselves sufficiently free from avarice to be safe. It was this Divine prodding of their conscience that made them wonder about salvation, as on the night of the Last Supper everyone would ask: “Is it I?” As the Divine eyes were fixed on them, they wondered about the state of their souls. The Divine Master did not tell them they were judging themselves too strictly. In answer to their question about salvation:
Jesus fastened His eyes on them, and said to them,
Such a thing is impossible to man’s powers,
But to God all things are possible.
MATTHEW 19:26
Because a camel cannot pass through the eye of a needle, it would be too severe to say that the same impossibility stands in the way of a man’s salvation; for there is always the Divine possibility.
Peter, once again acting as spokesman of the Apostles, demanded some further elucidation of this economic problem of giving up property. He had heard Our Lord speak of the greatness of the reward reserved for those who followed Him. Knowing that they had left their business by the sea in order to follow Him, Peter asked:
And what of us who have forsaken all,
And followed Thee; what is left for us?
MATTHEW 19:27
The Apostles evidently had not left as much as the rich young man would have abandoned; but it is not the quantity that one leaves that matters, but rather the fact that one has left all. Charity is to be measured, not by what one has given away, but by what one has left. In both cases, neither would have had anything left. Those who choose Christ must choose Him for His own sake, and not for the sake of a reward. It was only after they had completely committed themselves to following Him that He spoke of compensation. He had recommended the Cross; now He would speak of the glory which would be its inevitable consequence:
I promise you, in the new birth,
When the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory,
You also shall sit there on twelve thrones,
You who have followed Me,
And shall be judges over the twelve tribes of Israel.
MATTHEW 19:28
He bade them look forward to a great regeneration, to a Divine new order of things. The Son of Man Who would have the Cross on earth would have His glory in heaven.
As for them, they were to be the foundation stones of this new order. Israel had been founded out of the twelve sons of Jacob; so too His new order was to be founded on these twelve Apostles, who left all for Him. In this new Kingdom, a peculiar glory would be given to them as patriarchs of the new order. John, who was among them at the moment, later on would write:
The city wall, too, had twelve foundation stones;
And these, too, bore names,
Those of the Lamb’s twelve Apostles.
APOCALYPSE 21:14
Elaborating on the idea of reward for those who gave up their possessions, Jesus said:
I tell you truthfully,
Everyone who has forsaken home, or brothers,
Or sisters or mother, or children, or lands
For My sake and for the sake of the Gospel,
Will receive, now in this world, a hundred times their worth,
Houses, sisters, brothers, mothers, children and lands,
But with persecution; and in the world to come
He will receive everlasting life.
MARK 10:29–29
“Persecution” was thrown into the account of the rewards, not as if it were a loss, but a gain. The hundredfold reward would come not so much in spite of persecution, as on account of it. If they were faithful unto death, they would receive the crown of life; for the afflictions of this world were not to be compared with the joys to come. Thus did the Master brand Calvary into their flesh and their possessions, telling the Apostles to forsake that which others desired to keep. Peter, who had asked what he would get out of giving up his boats, had already been told that he would be the helmsman of the bark of Peter, or the Church. But that day, when Our Lord spoke of blessings and tossed in “persecution” as good measure, Peter never forgot. Later, in the midst of joys and persecutions, he wrote it down:
Rejoice, when you share in some measure
The suf erings of Christ;
So joy will be yours, and triumph
When His Glory is revealed.
Your lot will be a blessed one,
If you are reproached for the name of Christ.
I PETER 4:14
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