Mark 10:21-22

THE LOST OPPORTUNITY

‘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. And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.’

Mark 10:21

There must have been something singularly beautiful in the character of this young man, something of more than common promise in his youth, if the Searcher of hearts loved him as He looked into his soul. And surely, too, there is a future before one so favoured. But the Master, as always, tested his reality. He was rich—was he ready to give up his wealth to follow Christ? We hear of him no more. This young man, with all his promise, passes out of Holy Scripture with the sad and warning epitaph: ‘He went away.’

I. Every one of us has the opportunity which he had.—In most lives there is some one decisive trial, some choice, some call, upon the issue of which all the future depends. The path divides before us, and we must choose whether we will go to the right or the left. The choice may involve the giving up of much that has made life happy for us. It may change the whole course of our career. All hangs upon it; it is the turning-point; our decision fixes our character and marks out our destiny. We often do not know this at the moment; but we recognise it afterwards, and look back with earnest thankfulness or sorrowful self-reproach to the opportunity which was given to us, and the choice we made.

II. The call from Christ our Lord to each one of us is: ‘Take up the cross and follow Me.’ Has that call been heard and answered? It has come with a distinct and special meaning to each separate life. How are you answering it now? Upon your answer more may depend than you imagine to-day. The call of Christ, if unheard or neglected, may be uttered never again for us. There comes a time when He Who has vainly pleaded with His sinful creature will plead no more; when the Judge’s most awful sentence shall go forth: ‘Ephraim is joined to idols; let him alone.’ And the worst fate that can befall a man is to be let alone of God.

III. We, too, stand face to face with Jesus Christ.—To some of us He says to-day: ‘One thing thou lackest’; there is something, perhaps sinful, perhaps in itself harmless, which is keeping us back from God. It must be bravely sacrificed, be it what it may, if we would not miss our opportunity as this man missed his. To all of us He says: ‘Come, take up the cross and follow Me.’ The Cross must have its place in our lives, if we would be like Him. This is your opportunity. Will you hear, and bow your head, and follow the Master? Or ‘will ye also go away?’

Rev. Professor H. C. Shuttleworth.