Marcos 10

It pays to serve Jesus

28 Then Peter began to say to Him, "So, we have left all and followed you." 29 In answer Jesus said: "I tell you assuredly, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife*Less than 2% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit ‘or wife’ (to be followed by NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). or children or fields, for my sake and for that of the Gospel, 30 who will not receive a hundred times more,*Actually, the ‘hundredfold’ should presumably not be taken in a strictly literal sense. I take it that the Lord is saying that we will be abundantly recompensed, if not down here, certainly in heaven. In my own experience, in the absence of my real mother, whenever I needed one God provided one. If you only have one brother, that’s all you can leave, obviously, so the plural nouns are also contingent on the facts in the case. ‘Eternal’ life is a quality of life, and it begins down here. now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and father and mother*I follow 40% of the Greek manuscripts, including the best line of transmission, in reading ‘father and mother’. 55% have ‘mothers’, as in most versions. Note that Jesus does not promise more wives! and children and fields (with persecutions)—and in the age to come, eternal life. 31 But many first will be last, and last first."*This sounds like a pushdown stack—first one in, last one out.