John Calvin 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)

And whosoever shall forsake. After having raised the expectation of His followers to the hope of a future life, He supports them by immediate consolations,⁶⁴¹ and strengthens them for bearing the cross. For though God permits His people to be severely afflicted, He never abandons them without recompensing their distresses with His assistance. And here He does not merely address the apostles, but takes occasion to direct His discourse generally to all the godly. The substance of it is this: Those who willingly lose all for the sake of Christ will be happier even in this life than if they had retained the full possession of them; but the chief reward is laid up for them in heaven.

But what He promises about recompensing them a hundredfold does not appear at all to agree with experience. For in most cases, those who have been deprived of their parents, or children, and other relatives — who have been reduced to widowhood, and stripped of their wealth, for the testimony of Christ — are so far from recovering their property, that in exile, solitude, and desertion, they have a hard struggle with severe poverty. I reply, if one rightly estimates the immediate grace of God, by which He relieves the sorrows of His people, one will acknowledge that it is justly preferred to all the riches of the world.

For though unbelievers flourish, (Psalms 92:7), yet as they know not what awaits them on the morrow (James 4:14), they must always be tossed about in perplexity and terror, and it is only by stupefying themselves to some extent that they can enjoy prosperity at all.⁶⁴² Yet God gladdens His people, so that the small portion of good which they enjoy is more highly valued by them, and far sweeter, than if, apart from Christ, they had enjoyed an unlimited abundance of good things. In this sense I interpret the expression used by Mark, with persecutions; as if Christ had said, Though persecutions always await the godly in this world, and though the cross, as it were, is attached to their back, yet so sweet is the seasoning of the grace of God, which gladdens them, that their condition is more desirable than the luxuries of kings.

⁶⁴¹ “De consolations de la vie presente;” — “by consolations of the present life.”;” — “by consolations of the present life.”

⁶⁴² “Ils ne peuvent iouir a leur aise des biens qu’ils ont, sinon qu’ils en-trent comme en une stupidite, et effacent tout sentiment de leur conscience;” — “they cannot enjoy at their ease the good things which they possess, unless they become, as it were, stupid, and destroy every feeling of their conscience.”;” — “they cannot enjoy at their ease the good things which they possess, unless they become, as it were, stupid, and destroy every feeling of their conscience.”