Mark 10

Mar 10:21 Then Jesus, beholding him, loved him and said to him, One thing you lack. Go, sell whatever you have and give it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in Heaven. And come, take up the cross and follow Me.
Mar 10:22 And he was sad at that saying and went away grieved, for he had great possessions.

When I read verse 21, I am intrigued by two words...
"loved him".
I don't know why it jumps out at me.

Ok I take that back,
I DO know why it jumps out at me.

I just did a search through all four gospels for the words "love", "loved" and "loving".

I am usually reluctant to mention anything in the future of the reading plan because I would rather wait until we get there. I don't really have anything to discuss about it, this is just a list of the other places that mention love by Jesus (there are MANY other "loves" in the text, just none by Jesus other than these)

Joh 11:5 And Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
Joh 11:36 Then the Jews said, Behold how He loved him! (Lazarus)
Joh 13:1 And before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come when He should depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own in the world, He loved them to the end.
Joh 13:23 But there was one of His disciples leaning upon Jesus' bosom, the one whom Jesus loved.
Joh 15:12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

So the list is:
- The rich young ruler (Mark 10:21)
- Martha and her sister and Lazarus
- His own
- a disciple (John?)
- you

All of the remaining references are to "the disciple Jesus loved" in John 13:23 (Joh 19:26, 20:2 and 21:20)

-=-=-=-

Anyway, (back to Mark 10)
It seems peculiar to add "loved him" about the rich young ruler.

I heard an interesting conjecture by a teacher I enjoy listening to on the internet.
I tried to repeat it to a friend at a bible study one night,
but botched it so badly I am going to record it here
straight from the "Stedmaniac" source...
( http://www.pbc.org/dp/stedman/index.html )

This is by Ray Stedman:

"We do know that this gospel was written by a young man named John Mark, who appears several times in our Scriptures. His mother was named Mary, and was a rather wealthy woman who had a big house in Jerusalem.

Early church tradition tells us that Mark became the companion of Peter. Eusebius, a church father writing in the third century, says that the early Christians were so entranced with all the things Peter told them that they asked Mark to write them down. Perhaps that is how we got The Gospel According to Mark, for it reflects much of Peter's memories and experiences with Jesus.

This much about the origin of the Gospel of Mark can be verified from Scripture. But there is another aspect of it which perhaps I ought to call "Stedman's speculation", because it is not inspired, but is something which long has intrigued me: I pass it along for you to make of it what you will. In Chapter 14, Verse 51, reference is made to an incident which only Mark records. In his account of Jesus' betrayal and arrest. Mark tells us that as he was being led away by the soldiers, a young man followed him, wearing nothing but a linen cloth about his body. Apparently thinking he was a disciple of Jesus who had been foolish enough to remain behind while all the others had run for their lives, the soldiers attempted to seize him. But all they got was the cloth as he ran naked into the night. Many scholars have suggested that this was Mark, for he would have been a "young man" at that time. Perhaps, because of his fascination with Jesus, he had been hanging around, hoping to learn more, had gotten into this trap unknowingly, and had to flee for his life, leaving his garment behind. The fact that Mark is the only one who mentions this incident is highly suggestive that this indeed was Mark himself.

But there is another story, in Mark 10, found in Matthew and Luke as well, which has fascinated me -- the story of the rich young ruler. Here we have a young man who, toward the end of Jesus' ministry, came to him with a question. He was a wealthy young man of the ruling class, evidently a handsome, very warm person. He ran up and knelt at Jesus' feet, and said, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" {Mark 10:17b RSV}. Jesus Said, "Have you kept the commandments?" The young man said he had kept them from his youth. Then Mark records something that neither of the other accounts tell us. He says, "And Jesus looking upon him loved him," {Mark 10:21a RSV}. That little personal note suggests to me that Mark was that rich young ruler.

So perhaps that little story of the young man who ran away without his robe is Mark's way of telling us that the rich young ruler who went from Jesus so sorrowfully -- as the account tells us, because he had great possessions -- did not remain sad, that later on, having thought things over, he made the commitment Jesus required of him: he gave away all that he had. He gave up his inheritance, and all he had left was a robe -- and he lost even that, finally, and he came and followed Jesus. I do not say that the Scriptures tell us explicitly this is what happened -- but I think it is! So, if you do not mind the 'Stedmaniac' version, this gives us a little added insight into The Gospel According to Mark."