Luke 18

21. All these, &c.--"what lack I yet?" adds Matthew ( Matthew 19:20 ). Ah! this gives us a glimpse of his heart. Doubtless he was perfectly sincere; but something within whispered to him that his keeping of the commandments was too easy a way of getting to heaven. He felt something beyond this to be necessary; after keeping all the commandments he was at a loss to know what that could be; and he came to Jesus just upon that point. "Then," says Mark ( Mark 10:21 ), "Jesus beholding him loved him," or "looked lovingly upon him." His sincerity, frankness, and nearness to the kingdom of God, in themselves most winning qualities, won our Lord's regard even though he turned his back upon Him--a lesson to those who can see nothing lovable save in the regenerate.

22. lackest . . . one thing--Ah! but that a fundamental, fatal lack.
sell, &c.--As riches were his idol, our Lord, who knew if from the first, lays His great authoritative grasp at once upon it, saying, "Now give Me up that, and all is right." No general direction about the disposal of riches, then, is here given, save that we are to sit loose to them and lay them at the feet of Him who gave them. He who does this with all he has, whether rich or poor, is a true heir of the kingdom of heaven.

23-25. was very sorrowful--Matthew ( Matthew 19:22 ) more fully, "went away sorrowful"; Mark still more, "was sad" or "sullen" at that saying, and "went away grieved." Sorry he was, very sorry, to part with Christ; but to part with his riches would have cost him a pang more. When Riches or Heaven, on Christ's terms, were the alternative, the result showed to which side the balance inclined. Thus was he shown to lack the one all-comprehensive requirement of the law--the absolute subjection of the heart to God, and this want vitiated all his other obediences.

24. when Jesus saw--Mark says ( Mark 3:34 ), He "looked round about"--as if first following the departing youth with His eye--"and saith unto His disciples."
How hardly, &c.--with what difficulty. In Mark ( Mark 10:24 ) an explanation is added, "How hard is it for them that trust in riches," &c.--that is, with what difficulty is this idolatrous trust conquered, without which they cannot enter; and this is introduced by the word "children"--sweet diminutive of affection and pity ( John 21:5 ).

25. easier for a camel, &c.--a proverbial expression denoting literally a thing impossible, but figuratively, very difficult.

26, 27. For, &c.--"At that rate none can be saved": "Well, it does pass human power, but not divine."

28-30. Lo, &c.--in the simplicity of his heart (as is evident from the reply), conscious that the required surrender had been made, and generously taking in his brethren with him--"we"; not in the spirit of the young ruler. "All these have I kept,"
left all--"The workmen's little is as much his "all" as the prince's much" [BENGEL]. In Matthew ( Matthew 19:27 ) he adds, "What shall we have therefore?" How shall it fare with us?

29. There is no man, &c.--graciously acknowledging at once the completeness and the acceptableness of the surrender as a thing already made.
house, &c.--The specification is still more minute in Matthew and Mark, ( Matthew 19:27 , 10:29 ) to take in every form of self-sacrifice.
for the kingdom of God's sake--in Mark ( Mark 10:29 ), "for MY sake

30. manifold more in this present time--in Matthew ( Matthew 19:29 ) "an hundredfold," to which Mark ( Mark 10:30 ) gives this most interesting addition, "Now in this present time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions." We have here the blessed promise of a reconstruction of all human relationships and affections on a Christian basis and in a Christian state, after being sacrificed, in their natural form, on the altar of love to Christ. This He calls "manifold more"--"an hundredfold more"--than what they sacrificed. Our Lord was Himself the first to exemplify this new adjustment of His own relationships. persecutions"; for how could such a transfer take place without the most cruel wrenches to flesh and blood? but the persecution would haply follow them into their new and higher circle, breaking that up too! But best of all, "in the world to come life everlasting." And

These promises are for every one who forsakes his all for Christ. But in Matthew ( Matthew 19:28 ) this is prefaced by a special promise to the Twelve: "Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed Me in the Regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Ye who have now adhered to Me shall, in the new kingdom, rule, or give law to, the great Christian world, here set forth in Jewish dress as the twelve tribes, presided over by the twelve apostles on so many judicial thrones. In this sense certainly the promise has been illustriously fulfilled [CALVIN, GROTIUS, LIGHTFOOT, &c.]. But if the promise refers to the yet future glory (as may be thought from Luke 22:28-30 , and as most take it), it points to the highest personal distinction of the first founders of the Christian Church.

Luke 18:31-34 . FULLER ANNOUNCEMENT OF HIS APPROACHING DEATH AND RESURRECTION.

31. all written by the prophets concerning the Son of man . . . be accomplished--showing how Christ Himself read, and would have us to read, the Old Testament, in which some otherwise evangelical interpreters find no prophecies, or virtually none, of the sufferings of the Son of man.

34. understood none, &c.--The Evangelist seems unable to say strongly enough how entirely hidden from them at that time was the sense of these exceeding plain statements: no doubt to add weight to their subsequent testimony, which from this very circumstance was prodigious, and with all the simple-hearted irresistible.

Luke 18:35-43 . BLIND MAN HEALED.

In Matthew 20:29-34 , they are two, as in the case of the Demoniac of Gadara. In Matthew and Mark ( Mark 10:46-52 ) the occurrence is connected with Christ's departure from Jericho; in Luke with His approach to it. Many ways of accounting for these slight divergences of detail have been proposed. Perhaps, if we knew all the facts, we should see no difficulty; but that we have been left so far in the dark shows that the thing is of no moment any way. One thing is plain, there could have been no collusion among the authors of these Gospels, else they would have taken care to remove these "spots on the sun."

38. son of David,
so much the more--that importunity so commended in the Syrophenician woman, and so often enjoined ( Luke 11:5-13 , 18:1-8 ).

40. commanded, &c.--Mark ( Mark 10:49 ) has this interesting addition: "And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise, He calleth thee"--just as one earnestly desiring an interview with some exalted person, but told by one official after another that it is vain to wait, as he will not succeed (they know it), yet persists in waiting for some answer to his suit, and at length the door opens, and a servant appears, saying, "You will be admitted--he has called you." And are there no other suitors to Jesus who sometimes fare thus? "And he, casting away his garment"--how lively is this touch, evidently of an eye-witness, expressive of his earnestness and joy--"came to Jesus" ( mark 10:49 mark 10:50 ).

41-43. What wilt thou, &c.--to try them; to deepen their present consciousness of need; and to draw out their faith in Him. Lord "Rabboni" ( Mark 10:51 ); an emphatic and confiding exclamation.