And every one that hath forsaken houses, 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 inherit everlasting life.
This verse comes immediately after one of Jesus's most well-known encounters — a wealthy young man who asks what he must do to gain eternal life, then walks away disappointed when Jesus tells him to sell his possessions and follow him. Afterward, Jesus tells his disciples it is extremely difficult for a rich person to enter God's kingdom. The disciples are stunned and ask who then can possibly be saved. Peter speaks up with a pointed question: we have left everything to follow you — what will there be for us? This verse is Jesus's direct answer. He promises that no real sacrifice made for his sake goes unrewarded, both within this life through community and purpose, and ultimately through eternal life.
Jesus, I confess that the cost of following you sometimes feels more real than the promise. Help me trust that you see what I've given up, and that your math is better than mine. Give me the courage to hold a longer horizon — and eyes to see the return you're already at work providing. Amen.
Peter asks the question none of us are supposed to say out loud: we gave things up for you — what do we get? There's something almost embarrassingly transactional about it. But Jesus doesn't rebuke him for the honesty. He answers it. Directly. Which tells you something important: God is not offended by honest accounting. He knows what following him has cost you — the relationship you walked away from, the career path you didn't take, the version of yourself you quietly left behind. He is not asking you to pretend that didn't hurt. The promise Jesus makes is extravagant — "a hundred times as much." Most of us don't feel that math working in real time, and pretending otherwise helps no one. The return isn't always financial or immediate — often it arrives as unexpected community, purpose you couldn't have manufactured, or a peace that doesn't make logical sense given your circumstances. But the verse is asking you to hold a longer horizon than you're used to. Whatever you've walked away from for Jesus's sake — he sees it, he counts it, and he is not finished with his answer yet.
What is happening in Matthew 19 just before this verse, and why does it matter that Jesus is responding specifically to Peter's blunt question about what they will receive?
What have you actually left behind — even something small or unnoticed by others — because of your faith? How has that felt over time, honestly?
Jesus promises a hundredfold return. How do you hold that promise with integrity when the return isn't obvious or hasn't arrived — without dismissing the promise or manufacturing a fake fulfillment?
How might this promise change the way you respond to someone in your life who is weighing a costly decision to be generous or to follow through on a commitment of faith?
Is there something you've been holding tightly that you sense might need to be released? What would it actually look like to trust this promise in that specific situation?
But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.
Mark 10:30
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
Matthew 16:25
And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
Matthew 10:38
If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.
1 Peter 4:14
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Matthew 6:33
Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
Philippians 3:8
If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
Luke 14:26
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
And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name's sake will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life.
AMP
And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.
ESV
'And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name's sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life.
NASB
And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.
NIV
And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.
NKJV
And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much in return and will inherit eternal life.
NLT
And not only you, but anyone who sacrifices home, family, fields—whatever—because of me will get it all back a hundred times over, not to mention the considerable bonus of eternal life.
MSG