Mark 8:36

Mark 8:36

Two questions meet us on the threshold of this great subject. What is meant by the soul, to which this paramount value is ascribed? And why should there be any natural enmity between the world and the soul? Why should the gain of the whole world be likely to hazard the loss of the soul?

I. The soul is man's higher life; the life, not of the body, nor even of the intellect, but of the feelings, the affections, and the aspirations. A man may ignore this higher life and do his best to drown and stifle it; but he cannot divest himself of it. It is part of himself. Willingly or unwillingly, worthily or unworthily, he must carry it about with him to death and through death. There is a "for ever" stamped visibly upon it. He can ennoble or he can degrade, but he cannot destroy. To lose the soul is in Scriptural language to spoil this higher life; to quench the Divine Spirit, by whose fire alone it burns; to lose the capacity of caring for God and for all those lofty things which we believe to be dear to God and the natural heritage of man.

II. Why should the gain of the world imperil the soul? Here experience gives the answer. Theoretically it is quite possible to win the world and to win the higher life as well; to seek with ardour, and to enjoy to the full, what are called in pagan language the gifts of fortune; and to consecrate all in the spirit of thankfulness to the service of God and the wants of others. It is possible, because with God all things are possible. But it is hard, terribly hard. "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle." Have we not all lived long enough to discover this much, that when our heart is set eagerly upon any of the things of earth, upon success in any shape, bodily or intellectual, we are tempted to sink to the level of that particular object? It peoples and satisfies your imagination. It gives birth to a thousand secondary interests all like itself, none rising higher than its fount, all tending to lead away our thoughts from the higher life, and to make it appear distant and shadowy. If we ask ourselves, How can we know whether we are losing our souls or not? the answer seems to be, You are losing your soul, you are doing, slowly perhaps but surely, what you can to make the restoration, the re-inspiration of your higher life impossible, if you are gradually losing your love for God, your interest in all things high, your unselfish devotion to others, your faith in the paramount claims of duty over your own personal inclinations, however legitimate they may be.

H. M. Butler, Harrow Sermons,2nd series, p. 259.

References: Mark 8:36. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. ii., No. 92; H. B. Ottley, Church of England Pulpit,vol. i., p. 229; E. D. Solomon, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xv., p. 30. Mark 8:36; Mark 8:37. J. Keble, Sermons from Lent to Passiontide,p. 115; W. J. Cuthbertson, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xviii., p. 202; Clergyman's Magazine,vol. iii., p. 94.Mark 8:38. Spurgeon, Evening by Evening,p. 86; H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xxiii., p. 172; vol. xxvi., p. 315.Mark 9:1. W. Hanna, Our Lord's Life on Earth,p. 250. Mark 9:1. H. M. Luckock, Footprints of the Son of Man,p. 187. Mark 9:2. New Outlines on the New Testament,p. 39; C. Kingsley, Village Sermons,p. 114.Mark 9:2; Mark 9:3. R. W. Evans, Parochial Sermons,vol. i., p. 200. Mark 9:2. Homiletic Quarterly,vol. i., p. 476. Mark 9:2. A. B. Bruce, The Training of the Twelve,p. 191.Mark 9:2. Preacher's Monthly,vol. iii., p. 339. Mark 9:2. W. Hanna, Our Lord's Life on Earth,p. 256. Mark 9:5. H. M. Luckock, Footprints of the Son of Man,p. 192.Mark 9:7. Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times,"p. 259.