Will You Risk It All?
Gospel Reflection for Tuesday, March 4th, 2025 - Mark 10:28-31
Lent begins tomorrow, so I had to chuckle a bit when reading today’s Gospel reading.
It is perfect, perfectly challenging to us that is.
Today we hear from St. Peter that the disciples, in no uncertain terms, have abandoned everything to follow after Jesus.
St. Peter isn’t being hyperbolic when he says they have left everything. They left their livelihoods, their families, their homes, their very way of life to follow Jesus. It was more than a small inconvenience but a radical reorientation of their lives.
Jesus’ response doesn’t shy away from the reality of discipleship either. He states that what is given for the sake of Him and the Gospel will not only be restored but multiplied. This may not always come to us materially in this life, but may come with the richness of life in God’s kingdom. This all sounds good but then Jesus states that there will be persecutions. There will be hardships. The road won’t be well worn and easy to travel.
Today’s gospel us forces to ask the question: What are we willing to risk to follow after Christ?
Lent begins tomorrow and the Church has asked us to sacrifice - to risk our comfort, security, convenience, during these 40 days, that we might follow after Christ more fully.
Will you be like the disciples and take a risk, or will you shrink back a bit and stay comfortable this Lent?
3 simple ways to risk it all for Christ today:
Consider logging off social media - Give your free time to Christ, risk that convenience and the entertainment of being online, fully connected. Ask Jesus to meet you in that free time.
Wake up earlier - Being obedient to an earlier wake up time risks our comfort, providing extra time to spend in prayer, with Sacred Scripture or even in adoration, allowing room for the Lord to speak into our life.
Serve others more - Especially when it’s inconvenient for you to pause what you are doing to do so. Take a breath and just do the service. Offer that small sacrifice up to the Lord and thank Him for the opportunity to serve others in Christ’s name.
Peter began to say to Jesus,
'We have given up everything and followed you."
Jesus said, "Amen, I say to you,
there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters
or mother or father or children or lands
for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel
who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age:
houses and brothers and sisters
and mothers and children and lands,
with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come.
But many that are first will be last, and the last will be first."