Payback

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It is rare that we find someone willing to do something without expecting anything in return.

It is normal.  We all want to be paid for what we do, even when it is not work.  The pay takes different forms, from money to pleasure or joy, but in nearly every instance, there is a reward of some kind, and that is what motivates us.

And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold, and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first. - Matthew 19:29-30

For me, there is something really wrong in this passage from today's Gospel.

Jesus is letting his disciples know there is a reward for their sacrifice, and that reward will be great, much greater than what they have given up to follow him.

What bothers me is the thought that they were staying with him to gain position or wealth or glory.

He had just told them they would sit on twelve thrones, all of them, even Judas who would come to betray him.

Jesus said to them, "Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man is seated on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."

Did he not know what Judas would do?  Or is his comment about the first being last an indication that he did know, and that Judas might be waiting a long time to come to his glory in eternal life?

The idea that we will all get some type of reward for what we give up in this life should be a great motivator, if we believe in the hereafter.  But this payback in heaven philosophy has its horrible downside, doesn't it?

It is scary to think our belief in eternal life with benefits is not much different from those who strap bombs to their chests and enter a stadium.

I know we are not supposed to think that way.  We are supposed to see our promise of eternal happiness as something different, something less radical, more humane.

But what it all boils down to is wanting a reward, and doing things for the sake of that reward.  If I can understand that motivation in me, then I can understand it in others who do things I would never think of doing.

Maybe rewards and payback are not the way we should look at life.  Maybe we should want to help each other because we love each other, and not worry about our reward in the hereafter.

If we do that, this life will be more rewarding and less violent.

More to come...