SEEMON V.
Then Jesus, heliolding him, loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lachest ; go thy way, sell ivhatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shall have treasure in heaven ; and come, take up the cross, andfoUoiu me. — Mark x. 21.
In this verse is contained the fourth and last part of the conferencG between our Saviour and this young man. Observe here —
1. The gesture and carriage of our Lord Christ towards him, * Then Jesus, beholding him, loved him.'
2. The answer he gives him ; in which there is —
[1.] An admonition of his defect, ' One thing thou lackest.'
[2.] A precept and injunction, which is twofold — particular and general.
(1.) Particular, for the trial of this young man, where is the duty, ' Go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor.' And the motive or promise, ' And thou shalt have treasure in heaven.' The precept is particular, but backed with a general promise.
(2.) General, 'Come, take up the cross, and follow me.' These are the parts ; let us insist upon them as they offer themselves.
Then Jesus, beholding him, loved him. — This clause hath troubled many interpreters, how Jesus could love this young man, who seemed to be so full of pride, and self-conceit, and whose heart was so addicted to worldly riches, that when he knew Christ's mind, he went away from him sad : but there need not so great ado about the matter. To open it, two things will be necessary to show you the cause of this love, and the kind of it, why, and how he loved him.
1. Why he loved him. Surely it Avas not for his outward feature, or external compliment. Christ's love was never set upon these things ; but his goodness of disposition, moral integrity, and ingenuity, that was the reason why he loved him.
2. Now for the kind of this love. Christ, you know, had two natures in him, and accordingly we may distinguish of his love and affection ;
VeR. 21.] SERMONS UPON' 3IARK X. 17-27. 457
there is the divine love and the human love of Christ, as he was God, and as he was man.
[1.] If you interpret it of his divine love, the- difficulty will not be great ; for there is a general and common love, and a special love. With the first, God loves all his creatures, especially mankind, and amongst them those that have any strictures of his image in them more than others. But then there is a special love, and so all those are saved whom God thus loveth. So God loveth his own people, either with a love of good- will when they are uncalled : Jer. xsxi. 3, ' Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love ; ' or else with a love of complacency, when called and converted: Zeph. iii. 17, 'He will rejoice over thee with joy, he will rest in his love.' Now this will easily salve the matter ; there was a general love, or a liking and approbation of those moral virtues and good things which he saw in h(m, but not that special love which brings grace and salvation along With it. But—
[2.] Let us consider Christ as man, and so speak of his human love. Jesus Christ, as he took our nature, so he had the same affections and aversations that we have ; and therefore as man he loved his parents, his kindred, his nation, his friends and acquaintance in their several relations. Some there were with w^hom he contracted a more special friendship ; as Lazarus : John xi. 3, ' Lord, behold he whom thou lovest is sick.' He loved Lazarus in a special manner, as a singular good man. So also his two sisters : ver. 5, ' And Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.' And John is called the ' disciple whom Jesus loved,' chap. xiii. 23. Christ in his own practice would sanctify holy friendship, and therefore it pleased him as man to have a special human love to some above others. Once more, there were others whom he loved with a larger love, as they had more or less of good in them, as this young man for his good nature and blameless life : ' Jesus, beholding him, loved him ; ' that is, showed some signs of inclination towards him.
Now this was either a love of courtesy or a love of pity.
(1.) A love of courtesy and respect. Origen interprets it, he kissed him, or showed him some outward sign of favour. Indeed if the word had been icfilXrjaev, it might have been interpreted so ; but the word is rjydTTTjaev. Others, more generally, he treated him kindly. So this word sometimes is taken for courteous speech, as Grotius and other great critics in the Greek tongue observe. He loved him, tliat is, spoke friendly and kindly to him. So in Homer, x^^P^^ f ^'^^> '^'^p' «V/^t- (f)i\i]<; — Welcome guest, you shall be loved by us ; that is, friendly entreated or received. And so again, he excuseth himself that he did not love him as soon as he saw him at first, that is, did not treat him so kindly ; so Jesus loved him, that is, treated him with kindness.