“Then Peter answering, said to him: ‘Behold we have left all things, and have followed thee: what therefore shall we have?’ And Jesus said to them: ‘Amen I say to you, that you, who have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the seat of his majesty, you also shall sit on twelve seats judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And every one that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall possess life everlasting. And many that are first, shall be last: and the last shall be first.’”
St. Peter sees the dejection of the young man, and turns in wonder at Jesus. Peter and Andrew had left comparably little, but to leave anything for the love of God is not seen as little in His eyes: “Honour the Lord with thy substance, and give him of the first of all thy fruits: and thy barns shall be filled with abundance, and thy presses shall run over with wine” (Proverbs 3:9). However, he had departed from a wife, a trade, everything that was familiar, and followed Jesus, and as a victorious athlete, asks what will be given to him for his sacrifice: “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain” (1 Corinthians 9:24). Love is a two-way interaction, and those that give all for the sake of divine love will not be left empty handed, and Jesus says that those who saw Christ’s divinity through His humanity, like acknowledging the sun through a cloud, would come to an extraordinary reward. For the Apostles, it is given to be the new Patriarchs, but there is an interesting note to be considered in the twelve thrones. Judas Iscariot would not hold his preeminence and retain his throne: “Be thou faithful until death: and I will give thee the crown of life” (Apocalypse 2:10), and one can question if it was St. Matthias that took his place: “And they gave them lots, and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles” (Acts 1:26) or St. Paul: “But I have laboured more abundantly than all they: yet not I, but the grace of God with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10). However, this opening points more to the reality that Christians will reign and judge with Christ: “Know you not that we shall judge angels? How much more things of this world?” (1 Corinthians 6:3), similar to St. John referring to himself as the “beloved disciple,” that you may be able to put yourself in his shoes in his walk with Christ as His beloved disciple. Therefore, it points to all that have left everything for the sake of Christ, clutching only to His love rather than anything created, and they will be the ones whose love stories will have the preeminence in the kingdom of heaven. This can also refer to the division of the Christian people, and the different graces they receive from the Apostles: “And Jacob called his sons, and said to them: ‘Gather yourselves together that I may tell you the things that shall befall you in the last days” (Genesis 49:1), all of which make up one throne of Jesus: “And there was a rainbow round about the throne” (Apocalypse 4:3), denoting the variety of the saints’ expressions of love. While this heavenly reward is itself great, Jesus also realizes that fallen humanity struggles to be held up on future promises alone: “Hope that is deferred afflicteth the soul: desire when it cometh is a tree of life” (Proverbs 13:12), and so gives a look at present rewards as well, but these are spiritual rewards. All are called to ecstatic union with God, but few reach it because few are willing to leave everything behind for the sake of love. To forsake all that is temporal and of the flesh will lead to a hundredfold reward in spiritual goods, in the treasures of the spiritual life: “Now if thou wilt hear the voice of the Lord thy God, to do and keep all his commandments, which I command thee this day, the Lord thy God will make thee higher than all the nations that are on the earth. And all these things blessings shall come upon thee and overtake thee” (Deuteronomy 28:1-2). To leave behind even one’s family to focus entirely on the Church is to inherit a greater family of fathers, children, brothers, and sisters, who are bound not by blood but by divine love. To drink from the Savior’s wounded side daily in Holy Communion, to be adorned with graces upon graces, these are the gifts the Lord offers: “And of his fulness we all have received, and grace for grace” (John 1:16). This leaving behind is primarily in the case of pagan parents attempting to draw their children into idolatry, but it is a note that the love of Jesus and the bond of faith runs deeper even than blood: “He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:37). Life on earth is supposed to be even more extraordinary than before the Fall due to the intensity of love one feels for God and for their brethren: “Every one that loveth, is born of God, and knoweth God” (1 John 4:7), and this is to receive a hundredfold in its fullest sense, this is to be a great saint. Now, some that walk the way of faith and virtue grow cold and fall away: “But I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first charity. Be mindful therefore from whence thou art fallen: and do penance, and do the first works. Or else I come to thee, and will move thy candlestick out of its place, except thou do penance” (Apocalypse 2:4-5), and these are the first that become last. However, some that come late to the heavenly word love intensely for their deliverance from evil, and hasten up the mountain to the Beloved: “And certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities; Mary who is called Magdalen, out of whom seven devils were gone forth” (Luke 8:2). It can also refer to those who seem lowliest and smallest in the world, but that walk with Jesus, and are therefore rich in love and spiritual loveliness, which is to truly be first.