1 M. G. Pearse.
One Thing Thou Lackest.
ST. MARK — 17
Literature.
^Andrews (F. E.), Yet, 92. -Arnold (T.), Sermons, v. 246. Churcli (R. W.), The Gifts of Civilisation, 39. Clayton (J. W.), The Genius of God, 90. Cobern (C. M.), The Stars and the Book, 60. Home (C. S.), The Soul's Awakening, 71. Keble (J.), Sermons for the Christian Year : Septuagesima to Ash
Wednesday, 293. Little (J. A. S.), Salt and Peace, 99. Lyncli (T. T.), Sermons for my Curates, 175. . M'Clure (J. G. K.), Loyalty, 89. Mackennal (A.), The Eternal Son of God and the Human Sonship, 135, Martineau (J.), Endeavours after the Christian Life, 265. ' Matheson (G.), Messages of Hope, 185. Oosterzee (J. J. van), The Year of Salvation, ii. 267. .Pulsford (J.), Loyalty to Christ, ii. 238. Robinson (F.), College and Ordination Addresses, 102. Smytb (N.), Christian Facts and Forces, 170. y Spurgeon (C. H.), Evening by Evening, 54.
„ Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Ii. No. 2946.
Vaugban (C. J.), Family Prayer and Sermon Book, ii. 218.
„ My Son, Give Me Thine Heart, 129.
Vaugban (J,), Sermons (Brighton Pulpit), xii. No. 905. Watson (J.), The Inspiration of Our Faith, 98. Wilkinson (G. H.), The Heavenly Vision, 85, 91, 100. Christian World Pulpit, xi. 137 (Tbring) ; xxii. 168 (Duckworth) ; xxxiv. 171 (Pearson) ; Ii. 42, 396 (Ross) ; liv. 359 (Bruce) ; Ixxii. 346 (Grimes) ; Ixxvi, 56 (Herbert). Homiletic Review, iii. 97 (Cuyler) ; xlix. 150 (Garvin). Interpreter, v. 167 (King). Preacher's Magazine, ii. 414 (Wakiushaw).
•sB
One Thing Thou Lackest.
And Jesus looking upon him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest : go, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou Shalt have treasure in heaven : and come, follow me. — x. 21.
Christ was leaving the Jordan valley, where for some time He had been, " as he was wont," teaching the people. Already He was on His way before the ruler could overcome his reluc- tance to seek His spiritual direction. Then the young man came running, late, but not too late, and kneeling, he asked, " Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life ? " " Jesus looking upon him loved him." This statement, following on the declaration that he had kept from his youth all the commandments which Jesus had been quoting, sheds light on his character. He was real, both in his earnest- ness and in his stainless life. If, in this assertion of his obedience, there had been either insincerity or self-sufficiency, it would have aroused disgust. Instead, it awakened the Lord's profoundest sympathy. This was his burden ; he had intended a full piety, and it had not brought him rest of soul. The words of Jesus, though stern, are of tender compassion and deep meaning. The young man felt that the secret of his heart was laid bare. " One thing thou lackest : go, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me. But his countenance fell at the saying" — a shadow as of a lowering sky overspread his face — " and he went away sorrowful : for he was one that had great possessions."
Three of the Evangelists have preserved the incident. Each one adds something to the completeness of the picture. The wealth of the inquirer is brought into view by all of them ; but
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26o THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE
St. Matthew alone tells us that he was young, and St. Luke alone speaks of him as a ruler, while St. Mark gives several most interesting particulars of the interview itself — the running and the kneeling, the earnestness and the reverence, the look which Christ gave him, and the love which Christ felt for him ; and then again the look which Christ threw upon the disciples as He drew the moral, and the repeated expressions of astonish- ment with which they received His unexpected words as to the spiritual dangers of worldly wealth. All this variety, so pic- turesque and so natural, would be ill exchanged, we all feel, for a dry and sterile uniformity of narrative, taking out of it all the life and all the play, and suggesting the idea of an inspiration merely mechanical, out of which the human element would have departed, and with it (rightly understood) also the Divine.
I.
Christ's Look of Love.
•'Jesus looking upon him loved him."
1. The word " looking " implies a searching look. It is used twice in the Fourth Gospel — once of the look of John the Baptist upon Jesus (i. 36) and once of the look of Jesus upon Peter when He called him to be a disciple (i. 42).
2. " Loved him." — There are few words more touching in all Scripture. They mark so decisively the perfect humanity of Jesus Christ. He is not one that cannot sympathise — no, but in all things, He is " of like passions with us," only " without sin." The holy Saviour had a loved one among His disciples. He did not command. He did not exemplify, a dead level, a dull monotony, even of feeling, even of affection. There was for Him a friend among the friends — one chosen among the elect — one heart with which His heart beat yet more sensitively than with other hearts all loved.