Give up Your Identity

Matthew 19:29 – And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or a father or a mother or fields for my name’s sake will receive a hundredfold as many and will inherit eternal life.

I had a whole thing written up on this until I noticed that these were identity markers in Israel and the Ancient Near East. Many texts when mentioning people relate them to their father or brother or work. It is still done in the region today. Osama bin Laden. bin, son of. This is one of the sayings that leads to “dying to ourselves – our identities – we live for God. Jesus says here that those of us willing to give up those things that give us status in society, whether it be our family, our line of work, our wealth, will gain much more than we can imagine – a hundredfold of these things.

And what would the disciples make of this? It is one more radical upturning of their world. This idea must have seemed as ethereal, as unreal and unreachable as the idea of them judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Yet, Moltmann recognized that God’s promises were always that way. Ethereal, unreal, and unreachable. God promised the deliverance of slaves when human beings could not see any way for that to happen. God promised Abraham and Sarah that they would have a son when both were past childbearing age. Both laughed at the promises – as we must sometimes in our cynical, least hopeful moments. They seem too grand to hope for.

God called me to be a minister and I could no see a way for that to happen either and yet here we are. The promise is always a future reality that cannot be related to the present reality. Otherwise it wouldn’t be much of a promise. If I can see away from here to there – well it’s a matter of following steps. It’s more a certainty than a promise.

I think it’s good to remember here that this latest promise comes on the heals of the others. In the space of about five to ten minutes Jesus has told them that rich people aren’t rich because God blessed them; that rich people will have a difficult time getting into heaven without God; that, in fact, it would be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle; that people cannot get to heaven on our own; that with God nothing is impossible; that the twelve will sit with Jesus in his glory to judge Israel; that if they give up themselves – their identities, the things that matter to them the most – they’ll be rewarded a hundredfold and will have eternal life.

I stress the radicalness of this because I tend to think nothing of this, having heard these stories all my life. I forget to stop and think how these events and sayings would seem on first encounter. That’s the only way for me to realize how radical Jesus was. In the tradition of the Torah, it’s the youngest son gaining power and prestige over the elder sons: Joseph, Jacob, David, and many others. The last shall be first. God has always had a preferential option for the foor and the down-trodden. Therefore they will judge those who have been trodding them down.

And Jesus tells us that we’re thinking about our society all wrong. We’re no different than the oppressors of the Old Testament. Jesus’s words apply to us every bit as much as they apply to the disciples. If we are willing to give up our identities – our jobs, our wealth, our good names – we, too, will receive a hundredfold in return. What are we willing to give up to follow Jesus?

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