THE first part of the tenth chapter of the Gospel of Mark may be considered as the attitude of the Lord Jesus with reference to natural relationships.
He first touches the marriage tie, tracing the institution to its source, and places it in the position it held in God’s thoughts “from the beginning” (vers. 1-12).
Next, children having been brought to Him, He urges that no hindrance should be placed in the way of their coming to Him, rebuking even the disciples; and He adds that, unless the kingdom of God were received with the simple trust of a little child, none could enter it (vers. 13-16).
Thirdly, in the interview that the blessed Saviour has with the rich man, we find human affection and devotedness tested and found wanting (vers. 17-22); the Lord thereupon showing that following Himself involved the placing of natural relationships and possessions in a subsidiary position (vers. 23-30). It is upon my heart to show briefly from the latter division of this part of the chapter, that where nature fails, even in its best estate, divine love has triumphed, and has proved more than equal to the test.
It is a solemn thing to have to do with Christ individually, though such a dealing is indispensable if the soul is to find peace and lasting blessing. It is solemn because we have to do with One who knows us through and through. “He needed not that any should testify of man, for He knew what was in man” (John 2:2525And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man. (John 2:25)). And in order that we may be convicted before Him, and may value the blessing He bestows, as an undeserved favor, it is His way to place His finger at once upon the dark spot in our history, or on the side of our nature upon which we are prone to fail, in order that He may develop within us the sense of need. The ruler of Israel and the Samaritan woman both prove this latent power in the Person of Christ, in the two chapters following the scripture above quoted (John 3:44Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? (John 3:4)), and many other instances in the Gospels tell the same story.
Our chapter is no exception. Rich, and of an unblemished reputation, this man answers (doubtless uprightly) that he had kept God’s law, as he understood it, from his youth. Jesus finds in him that which drew out His esteem and regard, “beholding him” He “loved him” (vs. 21). Nevertheless as his opening question betrayed either a condemning conscience or an unsatisfied heart, Jesus in love to his soul must unmask what lurked within — selfishness and a preference for his possessions before Christ.
The test was a rude one, we may say, but for a man who maintained his adherence to the law, and built his righteousness upon it, it was not transparent to neglect the command, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Lev. 19:1818Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am the Lord. (Leviticus 19:18). So when Jesus dealt with this conscience in the “one thing” that he “lacked,” He laid bare the springs of the nature. Spite of his devotedness to the law, and of the allegiance he felt and professed to Christ (he kneeled to Him, vss.,7), he valued his riches more than either. “Sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor” says Christ, not in order to become poor, but to “have treasure in heaven.”
One can imagine the struggle in that heart, of which perhaps the most moved spectator was Christ Himself. By one so amiable, so above reproach in the world’s eyes, God’s law, and more especially Christ Himself, are deliberately weighed in the balance with the possessions — that he could at most hold but few years, and not guarantee the enjoyment for an hour — and rejected. If “he was sad,” what was Jesus? But it proved conclusively that in the person of one who was outwardly amiable and religious, human devotedness fails, and, though he does it “sadly,” he none the less turns the back on Christ.
But where human love has failed, divine love has triumphed. Another has had (as it were) proposed to Him the condition of “the poor” and the bestowing of “eternal life.” It involves “the cross” for Him, as propounded to this poor, rich man (if such an expression be permissible, for with all his riches he was poor without Christ). Does He “fail?” Or is He “discouraged?” Thank God He is not, and, strikingly enough, when He tells out His heart’s thoughts upon this subject to His disciples in the house in Matthew 13, He uses identically the same words as those already quoted, as regards both the “treasure” and the “pearl.” He “sold all (or whatsoever) he had.”
So much did He desire to have you and me, poor wretched rebels, as His own, that He will not hesitate to pay the full price. Not one thing does He hold back, and it is a love that has stripped itself of everything, beloved reader, that appeals to you, heart and mind. Has it till now appealed in vain? Then let us tell the whole truth. This love has descended to still deeper depths. The same chapter in Mark (10:45) shows it. He gave “His life a ransom for many.” “All that a man hath will he give for his life,” but this blessed One, in undying love to our souls, and consuming zeal for God’s glory, devoted all that He had (and it was much, whether viewed as the Father’s delight from eternity, or His proper hopes as Messiah), and gave His life also.
This is a love that would stop at nothing, as it is this that the apostle Paul presented to the Galatians and gloried in himself: He “gave Himself for our sins,” He “loved me and gave Himself for me” are the words of recall (Gal. 1:4, 2:20). “Christ hath loved us and given Himself for us,” he repeats to the Ephesians (vs. 2), for indeed it was a truth that had bowed his soul.
What practical effect has it produced upon us? Is it much for us to loosen our grip upon present things, that we may find “treasure in heaven,” when we have learned not only the mystery that Christ found in us a “treasure,” but the purchase price He has paid to possess it?
F. L.