Then Jesus beholding him loved him. Mark 10:18-21 KJV
Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him. Mark 10:21 NASB
The story of the rich, young ruler is often used in the gospel, and rightly so. We are all familiar with the figure of the man running to the Lord Jesus and asking what he needed to do for salvation. We watch with grief as we see a man make a fatal choice for eternity – riches instead of Christ. But Mark adds a touch that neither Matthew nor Luke relate to us. Mark adds these words, “Jesus beholding him loved him.”
How fitting that God’s perfect Servant is marked by love and compassion. No robotic service is His. He is not marked by a mechanical activity or response. Love and compassion motivated His every action.
But what adds to the beauty of the scene, is that we see the Lord Jesus loving a man who was about to reject Him. We tend to love those who love us. At the best, we tend to love those who might love us because of how we treat them. But to love a man who we know will reject us? To love someone who would choose material wealth over love for us? To love a man whom we know will never love us?
The character of God is that He loves the unlovely. The nature of God is that He loves men who despise Him and rail against Him. The mocker who defies God is loved by God. The cynic who raises his fist against the God of heaven is loved by God. In turn, the Lord Jesus as the Servant of Jehovah manifested that same love to men. He loved men who did not want Him. He loved men who would mingle their voices with the crowd that demanded His death. He loved and continued to love with an active pursuing love, men who hated Him without a cause.
But what makes Mark 10:18-21 so special, is that we see love directed to one man and a visible, tangible, and personal display of rejection, face to face. Yet He loved him. It must have been with deep sorrow that the Lord Jesus watched a man turn and walk away, taking his first steps on a path to ruin and loss.
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Consider:
- Note that in verse 17 he addressed the Lord as “Good Master,” but in verse 20, it is simply “Master.” What does that indicate in light of what the Lord said in verse 18? How do you think the Lord would have felt about this?
- In verse 23, it says, “Jesus looked round about.” His eyes surveyed His disciples. We are not told what He thought, but we do hear what He said to them. What do you think were the emotions of His heart toward them and toward the man who left?
- Trace the expression, “Jesus looked round about” in Mark’s Gospel and notice the five occurrences and the significance of each of them.