Mark 10:21 Commentary and Bible Study

And yet we read ‘Jesus beholding him, loved him.’ He loved this superficial, self-righteous man, with no sense of God’s holiness. How? Some say it was because, ultimately, he saved him outside the record of Scripture, and for what he would make him. That is possible, even likely, but it is speculation, and since the Gospels do not tell us this, it cannot be the lesson God wants us to learn. Instead what it does show us is the amazing compassion of Christ. He loved this man individually; he loved him while he was still in his unbelief. His love certainly took the form of pity, but there was something attractive about this young man’s earnest request for blessing. Christ is never lagging in his response to us. If we seek him he will encourage us to go on till we find him. The Lord wanted him to believe; he wanted him to come for mercy. We can say this because Scripture tells us that he ‘is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance’ (2 Peter 3:9). Even so this rich young ruler has come with great self-confidence and ignorance of his true state. That must be dealt with, and so Christ sets him a test, a severe test. It is not that there was just one thing wrong with the man. Christ could have said many things. He picks out one pivotal issue, his key besetting sin. Here is the great test: is the man ready to obey Christ and submit to him? Again, the Lord’s way of dealing with this man is so interesting. He doesn’t take him back to the commandments and show him how he has failed to keep them – although that is true. Instead he goes to the commandment he has so far left out, the last commandment: ‘Thou shalt not covet.’ ‘If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me (Matthew 19:21). Here is the challenge to his covetousness, and he could not do it. It is tragic. He was so eager, so inclined to learn. He was God fearing, upright. But Christ knew he was fatally attached to the riches of his lifestyle. This held him. He wanted to be assured he had eternal life, but there was something else more important to him. He should have asked, ‘Is there no other way?, but he didn’t and that led to disciples asking about it. ‘Go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor.’ To sell everything, if eternal life is at stake, is easy, unless these things mean too much for us. To give your goods to the poor, so that the poor may be helped and fed and clothed – that is not the hardest thing to do, unless those goods mean so much to us. They are the things we love; they are the idols in our lives – materialism and this world. To ‘take up the cross’ – that is a figure, an illustration. When a criminal went to execution in those days, they would carry their cross to the place of execution. Yes, people would scorn you but you would follow the one who was healing thousands, who was demonstrating his divinity. The disciple must not mind the scorn.