Former Blackout Artist

Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. “There is still one thing you haven’t done,” he told him. “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” – Mark 10:21

One of the interesting things about the Synoptic Gospels in the New Testament is that the authors (Matthew, Mark and Luke) each cover many of the same events in Jesus’ life, and much in the same order. Approximately 90 percent of Mark’s content can be found in Matthew, while roughly 50 percent of it can be found in Luke’s. But each writer was writing to a different audience. Matthew was writing to the Jews, Luke was writing to the Gentiles, and Mark was writing to the Romans. So although the events that they wrote about were often the same and close to the same order, each writer communicated in somewhat of a different emphasis and style.

And we see this slight difference here in Mark’s account of a story that is likewise recorded in Matthew and Luke, which is the familiar story of a wealthy young man who confronted Jesus and asked him what he must do to inherit eternal life. After Jesus referred him to the commandments, the young man responded, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.” Mark then records something that isn’t found in the other Gospel accounts. “Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him.”

If you’re like me, you have the tendency to focus on the character of the wealthy young man. After all, who could possibly claim to have “kept all these commands” going all the way back to childhood?! There is a degree of self-righteousness here that Mark, Matthew and Luke all thought important to point out to their readers. And this brings a certain level of tension into the story. And yet at that very moment of tension, Mark also thought it important to draw our attention back to the loving nature of Christ. “Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him.” Not a generic, superficial love, but rather an agape love; a love that is so deeply devoted that it sacrifices everything.

Jesus cared so much about this young man that he told him the truth about what was killing him spiritually. “There is still one thing you haven’t done,” [Jesus] told him. “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” (V.21) Jesus not only identified his disease, but he also offered him the Cure that would heal him forever. This is how much Jesus loved him.

In 1 Corinthians 13, the apostle Paul weighed in on the importance of true, genuine love.

If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. (Vv. 1-7) NLT

Love: The greatest fruit of all.