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It is not raw recruits and beardless boys that hold the front of battle. These are not the stormers they throw into the fiery breach. Where the bullets fly the thickest, and the carnage is the fiercest, the ground is held by veterans, men inured to war, the flash of steel and the roar of cannon; on whose grim faces calm determination sits, with scars and medals on their breasts. The post of danger is assigned to veterans. Heavy burdens are laid on the backs, not of boys, but of grown men. It were little else than murder to bid a youth, who had just left his mother's side, nor ever had his foot before on a deck, climb the shrouds and reef the topsails in a storm, when the mast bends to the breaking, and the ship reels in the trough of the sea. That were not common sense; and what man, who loved his son, and had either sense or consideration, would put a tender youth to so terrible a trial? It is said here, "Jesus, beholding him, loved him"; and if He loved this young ruler, why did He put him to a trial that, I venture to say. would test the faith, not of a young Christian, but of the oldest and most mature Christian here? Why did He, so to speak, send this boy to the very front of the battle, the thickest of the fight? Doing so, I confess that, for myself, I am not much astonished at the result. At first sight, at least, I wonder less at this youth shrinking back, than I wonder at our Lord bidding him go forward. Let the best Christian here put himself for a moment in this youth's circumstances. Think how you would feel now, were you called upon today to give up all the earnings of a lifetime, to part with some ancestral property — the dear old house, and the old trees, and the scenes of your boyhood, your possession, fortune, estate, rank — to leave all, to become a beggar, and follow the fortunes of a man so poor Himself that He often had not where to lay His head. I doubt that would be a burden under which the oldest Christian would stagger. I suspect that would try the faith of the best man here. And if any of you are disposed to look with scorn rather than sympathy on this poor young man, I am not of your number; and I would ask you to think how you would have done, and how erect you would have stood, under the same trial. The question occurs, then, Why did our Lord put this youth to such a trial? Was it done to repel him? No; it was done to draw him. It was not done to quench the smoking flax; but to blow it, as it were, by what seemed an adverse wind, into a burning flame. It was done kindly, discreetly, mercifully. By this step Christ intended to make that man know what he was; to make him see that he was not what he seemed to others and to himself. This test was applied to convince him practically of what it was not possible, perhaps, to convince him theoretically — that there was one thing he lacked, and that (so to say) the one thing needful.

(T. Guthrie, D. D.)

I. Christ-following involves self-abnegation. You cannot have a little of Christ, and a little of self. All or none.

II. Christ-following must be the expression of the soul's supreme love. You must not make Christ a mere convenience.

III. Christ-following means self-giving. Christ was the Giver, and men are like Him in proportion as they give. Giving is not yet understood as a test of discipleship. Giving is understood as a patronage, but not as a self-sacrifice. Giving means different things to different people. There are men who give a thousand guineas at once, yet is their gift without value. If certain rich merchants, whose purses are always accessible, would but utter two sentences distinctly in favour of Christ as their personal Saviour, that would be worth more to the Christian cause than all the gold they lavish on it.

(J. Parker, D. D.)

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KJV: Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.

WEB: Jesus looking at him loved him, and said to him, "One thing you lack. Go, sell whatever you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me, taking up the cross."