Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 19:29

"And every one that hath left houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or children, or lands, for my name`s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit eternal life." — Matthew 19:29 (ASV)

Everyone who has forsaken — While the loyalty and faith of the Apostles were rewarded with a promise that satisfied their hopes then, and would bring with it an ever-increasing satisfaction as they entered more deeply into its meaning, their claim to a special privilege and reward was at least indirectly rebuked. Not for them only, but for all who had done or would in the future do as they did, there would be a manifold reward, even within the limits of their earthly life, culminating in the future in the full fruition of the "eternal life" they had heard about so recently in the young ruler's question.

For my name’s sake — The variations in the other Gospels—for my sake and the gospel’s (Mark 10:29) and for the kingdom of God’s sake (Luke 18:29)—are significant for two reasons:

1. They are explanatory.
2. They show that the substantial meaning of all three is the same.

The act of forsaking home and wealth must not originate in a calculating, long-term view of reward. It must proceed from devotion to a Person and a cause, and it must lead to the furtherance of the gospel and the establishment of the divine Kingdom.

Shall receive a hundredfold — The better manuscripts have manifold more, as in Luke. The received text agrees with Mark. Here, it is manifestly impossible to take the words literally, and this should make us hesitate to expect a literal fulfillment of the preceding promise.

We cannot look for a hundredfold return of houses, wives, or children. What is meant is that the spirit of insight and self-sacrifice for the sake of God’s Kingdom multiplies and intensifies even the common joys of life. Relationships multiply based on spiritual sympathies. New homes are opened to us. We find new friends. The common things of life—the sky, sea, and earth—are clothed with a new beauty to the cleansed eyes of those who have conquered self.

Mark (Mark 10:30) adds words that are so strange, if one may say so, that they must have been actually spoken: with persecutions. We seem to hear the words spoken as a parenthesis, in a tone of tender sadness, perhaps not entirely unmixed with a teaching method that introduces new truths by first meeting people's expectations and then suddenly presenting something that contradicts them.

The disciples' thoughts were focused on that "hundredfold," as if it meant that all things would be smooth and prosperous for them. They are reminded that persecution in some form—the trials that test and strengthen—is inseparable from the higher life of the Kingdom . People need that discipline so that they feel that the new things are better than the old.