How the Lord’s Promise Is Fulfilled to Those Who Forsake All for the Kingdom of Heaven

“And Jesus said: Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my sake and the gospel’s sake, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and fathers and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life” (Mk. 10:29-30).

In the parable of the unrighteous steward (Lk. 16:1-13) the Lord spoke of the wise use of one’s possessions with detachment of the heart from them; here He speaks of the actual abandonment of all things—all absolutely, even parents and brothers, wife and children, not merely external possessions. The Lord gave this lesson on the occasion of His conversation with the rich young man (Mk. 10:17-22), to whom He proposed, for final moral perfection and for unhindered following after Him, to distribute all to the poor.

When the young man, unable to do this, departed grieving, the Lord said to His disciples how difficult it is for those who have riches to enter the Kingdom of God (Mk. 10:23)—that is, into the Kingdom of grace, so that, having lived in it by grace, they might be worthy of the Kingdom of glory. This is difficult for them because they are bound hand and foot by the love of gain and do not have the freedom to act even according to those rules in the lawfulness and godliness of which they receive assurance from God Himself.

This saying filled the disciples with amazement, accompanied by fear and dread (Mk. 10:24). Then the Lord explained to them that it is not wealth that closes the door to the Kingdom of God, but trust in it, when one leans upon it and rests in it; for the sons of the Kingdom must have but one support and foundation—the Lord Himself. Since such people do not have within themselves the essential and necessary disposition, they are recognized as unfit for the Kingdom of God. Considering how difficult this change of the inmost disposition is, this transition from one foundation to another, the holy Apostles showed even greater perplexity, saying: “who” then “can be saved?” (Mk. 10:26). The Lord said to them: For man, by himself indeed, such a change is “impossible, but… with God…” “all things are possible” (Mk. 10:27). He will send grace into the heart, transforming the old into the new—and all there shall be changed and transformed according to God’s will and purpose.

This perplexity was thus removed. But a different question arose in the minds of those who heard the Lord: what will come of this? Let the rich one become small like a camel passing through low and narrow gates, or become thin like a cord, if unraveled into fine threads that can pass through the eyes of a needle, but what will come of this, and what will it serve? The holy Peter asks on behalf of all: Look, for instance, we have left all things and followed You (Mk. 10:25,26,28). The thought that gave rise to this question is not shown here. It is not evident what exactly the holy Peter wanted to say and what he wished to hear. But the Lord’s answer shows that in his mind was the question: “what therefore shall be for us” and for those who act like us? (Mt 19:27). The Lord says: whoever leaves anything for my sake and the Kingdom’s, will receive in this age, “with persecutions…”, likewise “a hundredfold”, and in the age to come—“eternal life” (Mk. 10:30).

Some explain the origin of the question thus: The Apostles thought that they had, as it seemed, done everything necessary to follow the Lord. The holy Peter says to the Lord with the thought: “We have done all things” or with the question: “Have we done all things?”. According to others, this question arose from the fact that the Lord said to the young man: “sell” (Mk. 10:21), but the Apostles did not sell but only left; and so they wished to know how this would be received, whether it had value? But one must not forget that the Lord’s answer is not limited to the Apostles alone but embraces all. Indeed, the Lord saw that this question occupied all, not just the Apostles; and therefore gave an answer that extends to all.

The Lord’s saying is difficult to understand only in one respect. That those who leave all for the Lord’s sake will receive eternal life in the age to come requires no explanation. It is difficult to understand only how he who has left all will receive what he left a hundredfold in this age, with persecutions.

The first thought that arises is: cannot this promise be removed from this age? How is this spoken of by the other evangelists? Do they not have such turns of phrase on the basis of which the entire promise could be referred to the age to come?

Indeed, the circumstance on which the Lord uttered the difficult promise is described, besides the holy Mark, by the evangelists Matthew (Mt 19:16-22) and Luke (Lk 18:18-23). In the evangelist Matthew, the holy Peter asks: “what therefore shall be for us” for leaving all? (Mt 19:27). And the Lord answers that at His second coming you shall sit upon twelve thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Israel. But every one who has left all for my sake, “shall receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life” (Mt 19:27-29). Where he will receive a hundredfold is not said. But since it is added “and will inherit eternal life”, which is certainly in the age to come, the hundredfold recompense, it may be supposed, is here understood as well, in this age. The holy Chrysostom, quoting the text, after the words “shall receive a hundredfold” inserts from himself: “in the present age” (St. John Chrysostom. Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew. Homily 64,1). Perhaps it is only that nothing is promised to the Apostles (we mean in the evangelist Matthew) in this age, so one might suppose that in the promise to all others besides them, everything should also be referred to the age to come. But the latter promise does not exclude the Apostles either. The discourse could be understood thus: you shall sit upon twelve thrones and so forth, and besides that, along with all the others, you shall here too receive a hundredfold of what you left. The holy Chrysostom says: “If everyone else, then the Apostles all the more should receive recompense—both there and in this age” (Homily 64,2). Moreover, it is inconsistent with the Saviour’s teaching to expect in the age to come a family life, even if it were in some better and purer form: for there “they neither marry nor are given in marriage” (Mt 22:30), for which the character of the spiritual life in grace serves as preparation, in which “there is neither male nor female” (Gal 3:28).

In the holy evangelist Luke (Lk 18:28-30) the question of the holy Peter is set down, as in the evangelist Mark (Mk 10:28), and the Lord’s answer agrees with the answer noted in the evangelist Mark (Mk 10:29-31), only it is expressed more briefly. As recompense to those who have left all, there is promised here—the receiving of what was left “many times over, in this time, and in the age to come eternal life” (Lk 18:30).

Thus, according to the testimony of all three evangelists, to those who leave all, for the Lord’s sake (Mk 10:29, Mt 19:29) and “for the sake of His Kingdom” (Lk 18:29), not only eternal life is promised, but also in this age, “in this time” (Mk 10:30, Lk 18:30), “with persecutions” (Mk 10:30), the receiving of what was left “a hundredfold” (Mk 10:30, Mt 19:29) or “many times over” (Lk 18:30). The question is, how is this to be understood?

We need not expect the literal fulfillment of this promise, not only now when all know that this has not actually happened, but even those who heard the Lord at that time could not expect that, having left all, they would receive back one hundred brothers, sisters, children, lands, and houses. On the contrary, the very manner of expression made it clear to all that the Saviour’s words were not to be understood literally. But then how are they to be understood?

It should be noted that the forsaking of all, of which the Lord speaks, if we judge by the example of the Apostles, refers to a voluntary forsaking, which one chooses for oneself for the sake of spreading the Kingdom of Christ, as, for example, the holy Timothy and Titus did, and as many others have done. But if we pay attention to the Lord’s subsequent words about the hundredfold recompense, now “with persecutions” (Mk. 10:30), then by it we must understand an involuntary forsaking, when persecutors compelled believers to abandon their families, or when their own kin, in the zeal of their impiety, deprived them both of their love and of their home. Since the number of persons of this latter kind was incomparably greater, it is probable that they were primarily what the Lord had in mind when He spoke of recompense.

The hundredfold recompense to such people was and could be of two kinds: 1) visible, in the persons of all believers; and 2) invisible, spiritual, in the heart’s feeling of well-being. 1) All believers formed one body, and this unity was not merely external but inmost, most sincere and heartfelt. The spirit of love, strong as death (Song 8:6), bound all together, so that each considered all as his own and all considered each as theirs. The degree of growth, spiritual maturity, spiritual gifts, and services only determined the shades of this love. But its power penetrated all equally. In this respect, an elder entering the fellowship of believers was received by all as a father and received from all the warmth of the love that befits children; a young man entering received from all the elders tokens and felt in his heart the warmth of paternal and maternal love, and from all his peers—tokens and the warmth of brotherly and sisterly love and the like. Thus, if someone, as a result of faith in the Lord, had to leave his kindred, then, entering into the midst of believers, he encountered as many familial loves as there were believers—hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands; for “a hundredfold” (Mk. 10:30, Mt 19:29) definitely expresses an indefinite number—in the sense of “many times over”, as the evangelist Luke states (Lk 18:30). Further, since believers, by virtue of their deep mutual love, shared nothing but considered all to be the common property of all, then for one entering into their midst, every believer’s house was open, and all the possession of each was as it were his own, ready to meet his needs. Thus he suddenly became the possessor of an innumerable number of houses, lands, and all manner of possessions. This is how the holy Chrysostom understands it, and after him Blessed Theophylact and Euthymius Zigabenus.

The holy Chrysostom says that in regard to the Apostles this promise was fulfilled thus: “Having left their nets, they had in their power the possessions of all people, their houses, fields, and even the very bodies of believers; many were ready even to die for them, as Paul testifies, saying: ‘if possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me’ (Gal. 4:15)” (Ibid. Homily 64,2).

Blessed Theophylact supplements the holy Chrysostom: “Since from the preaching of the Gospel conflict was destined to arise (among men), so that children would renounce their fathers for the sake of godliness, so the Lord says: whoever leaves for the Gospel’s sake carnal kinship and all things carnal in general will receive all this a hundredfold even in this age, and in the age to come—eternal life” (Commentary on the Gospel of Mark 10). “Instead of a father he will have the spiritual fathers of the church, instead of a mother—the spiritual mothers of the church, instead of a wife—all believing women, not in a marital relationship, no, but in spiritual relationships, in spiritual love and care for them” (Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew 19).

The same thoughts appear in Euthymius Zigabenus. He asks himself how one can receive a hundredfold or manyfold recompense for what was left still in this age, and he answers: “How? In the same way as the Apostles, the martyrs, and all the righteous received it. For behold, all the houses of believers were open to them; all saints (men) and all saints (women) became brothers and sisters to them, all who loved them as fathers, who cared and suffered for them became fathers; for this is the essential character of a father; all (women) similarly disposed toward them became mothers; all (women) who helped them and served them became wives; for this is the work of a wife; all disciples became children. Moreover, all that believers possessed, they had in their power. And what is especially marvelous, they possessed all this amid persecutions, being persecuted by the enemies of the faith” (Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew 19:29). 2) When the Lord says: “will receive a hundredfold” (Mt 19:29), it is not necessary to understand that He promises as recompense one hundred houses and lands, one hundred brothers and sisters, and so forth. It can also be understood that the Lord promises here a hundredfold not of the same things, but in place of them or as compensation for them; moreover, it is permissible to understand them as goods of another kind—that is, instead of visible goods, invisible ones, instead of bodily—spiritual. Here the comparison will apply not to external possession of goods, but to the feeling of good, or well-being, produced by it. The union with parents and kin, the possession of a house and lands, in general a well-ordered family life, leaves in the heart a feeling of good, or well-being and prosperity. One who freely forsakes his family or is involuntarily driven from it for Christ’s sake and the Gospel’s, is supposed to be deprived of this feeling, to be losing the sense of well-being, and thus to be wasting away, constantly suffering, and, as it were, dying. The Saviour says that it will not be so, but whoever leaves all “for my sake and the Gospel’s” (Mk. 10:29) will constantly feel within himself such a sense of well-being as he would feel if his former well-being were increased a hundredfold and more—“many times over” (Lk 18:30). The histories of the martyrs present many examples of the expression of such a feeling. And it is quite natural, given their living communion with Christ and in Christ with God. Inasmuch as they were united with Christ and clothed in Him, they took into themselves all the riches of Christ. This was not an imputation, not a hope, but an actual possession. What well-being, then, could have produced that sense of well-being which filled the hearts of believers?! It was this that made them capable of enduring all deprivations and all manner of indescribable sufferings. The Apostle Paul says: Both “the present” and “the future—all are yours” when “you… are Christ’s” (1 Cor. 3:22-23). And again he says: “I count all things loss… for the surpassing excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus the Lord” (Phil. 3:8). We are “more than conquerors through Him who loved us”—and nothing can separate us from Him (Rom. 8:37-39). That familial affections returned to them in Christ Jesus—in this He Himself assures us. When they told Him that His Mother and brothers were “standing outside”, He said that whoever does the will of His Father in heaven is to Him brother, sister, and mother (Mt 12:47-50). Consequently, conversely, He too for the heart of believers walking in God’s will was and is brother, sister, and mother. He alone replaced and replaces all kinship, to such a degree superior as He Himself is above all. The heart, naturally seeking familial affections, was satisfied, possessing Him alone, and it cannot be compared how incomparably more so than before. The holy Gregory the Great (Gregory the Dialogist) in the 18th Homily on Ezekiel says: “‘A hundredfold’, he says, ‘he will receive’ (Mt 19:29)—because God will make it so that such a person will be far more gladdened by poverty or the forsaking of all things for love of Christ than the rich are gladdened by all their wealth and all their pleasures. And this they feel in actual fact, those who for Christ’s sake leave all that is theirs”. The blessed Jerome also understands here the hundredfold recompense not as visible goods but as spiritual goods—that is, peace of heart, joy of spirit, unspeakable consolation, and other gifts of grace, with which God filled the souls of believers and which surpass all earthly goods and joys far more than one hundred surpasses one.

Blessed Theophylact similarly interprets the receiving with abundance of what was left in this present age: “This must be understood”, he says, “concerning spiritual gifts, which incomparably surpass earthly things and serve as a pledge of future goods” (Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew 19:21).

The holy Ambrose, commenting on Psalm 118 in the eighth section, says: “He whose portion is God is the possessor of all. Instead of fields (abandoned), He Himself is the field bringing forth fruit that perishes never. Instead of houses (abandoned), He Himself is the most precious dwelling and temple of God. What is higher and more precious than God? This is such a portion with which no earthly properties can be compared. What is more majestic than this Heavenly Guest? What is more blissful than this possession of the Divine?”

Both these modes of understanding the promise of the Lord came to have application from the very beginning of the spread of Christianity. But in those times Christians appeared in the midst of unbelievers; and so it was natural that they were separated from their circle, persecuted by them, and suffered deprivations. In our time now, for example, among believers, what kind of application can the Lord’s instruction about forsaking all and the promise connected with it have? Practically the same as it had then: 1) Among us too there are preachers of God’s word who leave house and kinship and set out to preach the Gospel to the heathen, to wild places, to the Altai, for example, to Kamchatka or Abkhazia, accomplishing the work of evangelists amid deprivations of every kind. They are accompanied by the sympathy of all Russia, of all believers, who hear reports of their labors, expressed in word and manifested in deed. Receiving assurance in the attitude of believers toward them, evangelists feel that all are kindred to them, and all Russia—one native home to them. But at the same time it is undoubted that these visible consolations would not have covered their great deprivations, if at the same time their souls were not filled with superabundant consolations of grace, known only to them. With these higher consolations, no comfort abandoned and now at times provided by people could bear any comparison. Because of them, all the deprivations inevitably accompanying the work of preaching lose their painfully grievous character; 2) The second kind of forsaking of all in our time is when someone leaves the family life for the sake of more perfect following of Christ and the most sincere union with Him, through the purification of the heart from the passions by means of ascetical practices directed to that end, in a community of like-minded persons. Whoever truly does this as he should, entering into a new spiritual community, decisively breaks communion with his kinship and all worldly concerns and begins to labor in separation from them. This separation ought to be felt in his heart. But since he endures it not for the sake of some vain pursuits but out of love for the Lord, he is worthy of recompense, according to His word, not only in the age to come but in this age as well. And he does meet the like in the persons and possessions of the monastic dwellings on the one hand, and in spiritual consolations on the other. The brethren, receiving the newcomers as brothers, replace for them family love by their own love, appearing to them as father, brother, and in women’s monasteries—as mother, sister. Likewise, all the possessions of the monastery become, as it were, his own: he finds here both house, fields, clothing, and food. But one must also say in regard to them that even these visible consolations alone are insufficient for them. If there were not here spiritual consolations as well, no one would have enough patience to traverse this most difficult path to the end. And they do come, according, of course, to the measure of labor, self-denial, and zeal in spiritual ascetical practices. Such a thought is expressed by the holy Cassian the Roman (Conferences 24, 26): “One hundred brothers, fathers, and kinsmen does he receive who for the name of Christ forsakes the love of father, mother, or son, for he passes into the most sincere love of all who labor for Christ (in the monastery), where instead of one, so many fathers and brothers attach themselves to him with warm love. He also becomes rich with the possession of houses and fields, manyfold increased, because instead of one house abandoned for love of Christ, he becomes the possessor of countless monastic dwellings, entering into them everywhere as into his own”; 3) Finally, it can now happen that in some family all faith is lost, and the spirit of the world and the passions begin to reign in it despotically. When it should happen to someone from the members, especially not the chief ones, not to be carried away by that same spirit, or when the merciful Lord awakens in someone already carried away the zeal for salvation; then such persons, considering it obligatory before God to firmly hold to their principles, inevitably come into discord with all the established order, which does not accord with their disposition. Through this they become separated from the other members of the family, and those separate from them, and frequently even expel them from their circle. And behold—persons who have left kinship and home for Christ’s sake and the Gospel’s, are persecuted for Christianity amid a Christian society by those who are called Christians! What then will happen to such persons? That which the Lord promised to all: both family sympathy they will meet, and shelter they will find everywhere among Christians who walk by the true spirit of Christ, and consolations of grace will sweeten the sorrows of their grievous path, upon which they have been placed by the hand of Providence, arranging all for the best. Examples of this are everywhere, although because of the scarcity of the spirit of Christ, persons of both kinds have become very rare—both those forsaking all for this latter reason and those disposed to receive them as their own.