It was one of the many instances in which Jesus took a very kind view and saw, and was not afraid to say that He saw the good that was in everyone. Many perhaps see it, who do not think it well to say that they see it. You need not be afraid. True praise never does any harm. On the contrary, it softens and humbles.
I. But there is a much higher lesson than this, contained in the kindliness of our Saviour's conduct. If any of you are ever inclined to think of God as a faultfinder as One who is quick to see what is wrong and who does not see and appreciate what is good in us read the accounts of Christ's intercourse with those among whom He was thrown; and you will unlearn your false estimate of that kind, loving, hopeful heart.
II. The text shows clearly that there is a kingdom of God in this world, and that it has distinct boundary lines. These boundary lines do not shade off, so that either it should be impossible to say whether you are in it or not in it, or that you can be partly in it and partly not in it. The words evidently convey the contrary: you may be "near" it, or you may be far from it, but either you are in it, or you are out of it. And now the question necessarily forces itself upon us, What was there in this man which made Christ speak of him as "Near to the kingdom" of His grace. (1) This scribe spoke practically and sensibly and without prejudice as Christ expresses it, "discreetly." And the evangelist gives this as the very reason for our Saviour's judgment about him. (2) It is plain that he saw before his age and generation, the true, relative value of the types and ceremonies of the Jewish Church. He recognised them as entirely inferior to the great principles of truth and love. (3) His mind had travelled so far as to see that the sum and substance of all religion is love, first to God, and then, growing out of it, to man. (4) And perhaps, still more than all, that enlightened Jew had been attracted and drawn near to the person of Christ. Consequently he consulted Him as a teacher, "Which is the first commandment of all?" and when Christ had solved the question, he gave his ready assent, and hailed Him as the great exponent of the mind of God. "Well, Master, Thou hast said the truth" his intellect following where his faith had led the way, to one centre, and that centre Christ.
J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons,4th series, p. 293.
Nearness to the Kingdom of God.
Consider:
I. In what this nearness consists. The current idea is that we are not far from the kingdom of God if we stand in any kind of touch or connection with it. But nearness to the kingdom of God implies more than this; it implies an inwardconnection, a motion of the heart, a drawing of the soul towards it. When indifference to Christ, the Sovereign of this kingdom, or to God Himself, still rules in any human heart, it were indeed unfitting to speak of nearness. We enter the kingdom of heaven through conversion. We are not far from the kingdom of God when we are awakened by God, but still unconverted. Conversion is in its essential nature a new birth, and to be not far from the kingdom of God is to be on the wayto the new birth, but not yet born again.
II. What is the worth of the nearness to the kingdom of God which we have described. It is a great thing to be near the kingdom; but is an unsatisfactory, we might rather say, a dangerous, condition. (1) Of what use is it to stand on the frontiers of God's kingdom? Of what use to see the promised land from afar, and to know that for us it is lost for ever? Of what use was it to Agrippa to have said to Paul: "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian? (2) But not only for the individual, for the kingdom itself, this state of being not far off is less advantageous than we might have supposed. We might fancy that it would greatly further the advancement of that kingdom that there should be many standing, not indeed within, but at the doors. But the result has been that the kingdom of God has been despised. Men have thought that it was leaving the world as it was, that it had brought a shadowy kingdom of heaven upon earth, but never a true one. And they have said: Let us keep to the path on which we travelled before. Open scorners and mockers have not done nearly so much to injure Christianity in the opinion of men as those who stop halfway, and do not let their light shine before men.
III. But even amongst those who are not far from the kingdom there are different classes. A wide distinction may be drawn between those who feel an impulse drawing them to enter the kingdom, and those who are contented where they are. The noblest natures and the most honest minds have often to struggle long, and to wait for the seal of their adoption. Happy are they. At last the door will open to them; and it may be they shall be placed far above those who found the entrance quickly and with little toil.
R. Rothe, Predigten,p. 60.
We are led to form a favourable opinion of the man to whom these words were addressed. He seems to have been thoughtful and reverent, to have been attracted by the teaching and character of Christ, and to have detected the nothingness of all religion not based upon the love of God and man. He. was an earnest, true-hearted man, and his earnestness made him clearsighted. It was a comfort to him to be told that holiness of heart was the one great thing required by God.
I. It was his declaration in Mark 12:33 which drew from our Lord the remarkable judgment, "Thou art not far from the kingdom of God." To enter the kingdom of God is to become a true Christian; first to understand, and then to obey habitually, the laws by which God endeavours to govern our hearts. A man is qualified to be a member of any earthly kingdom by acknowledging its government and yielding a willing obedience to its laws. And so with the kingdom of God. There is a certain state of mind which fits a man to be a loyal subject of that kingdom. To be Christlike, to acknowledge Christ's person, to love Him, to try to find out what He wishes and do it numbly in dependence on Him this is to have entered the kingdom of God, and to be an active citizen in support of its government. And the words of our text remind us that there are approaches leading up to this holy city. There is a state of mind in which we are nearly Christians, but not quite. We have not actually entered the kingdom of God, but we are not far from it.
II. Now it is plain that there are vast differences among those who are "not far from the kingdom of God," campers, as it were, on the frontiers of Christendom. There are some who deserve praise for having advanced so far; others doubtless infinitely more who deserve blame for having pushed no farther. The scribe to whom our Lord spoke belonged plainly to the first of these classes. He had done what so few of us, living in the full blaze of Christian light, are able to do he had come to see that religion was essentially an inward spiritual thing, a thing of the heart; and that, however correct a man's acts or beliefs might be, he was not a religious man unless with every power of his body, his intellect and his soul he loved God and his fellow-men. Those to whom the words of Christ can be addressed in a tone of approval are, in our day, those who have not had great advantages, but have made the most of these. God has all along been preparing their hearts though they knew it not. When at last His call speaks to them in some vehement tone perhaps by a terrible sorrow, or an outburst of wickedness in some one for whom they care we feel sure that they will embrace the call.
H. M. Butler, Harrow Sermons,2nd series, p. 63.
The deepest interest must ever attach to those utterances of Christ in which He has pronounced upon the moral and spiritual state of those who came before Him. He knew what was in man: he knew, that is, the human heart in all its tendencies and capacities; and, besides, he could infallibly read individual hearts with clear decision and perfect equity.
Notice:
I. That our Lord speaks of His kingdom as a definite reality. It is a distinct sphere or region with a frontier line marking it off from all else. Between the Law which the scribe professed and the Gospel which Christ was offering, there was a sharp, intelligible, boundary, which he must cross if he would pass from the one to the other.
II. But while this is made abundantly clear, while it is certain that Christ has created a sharply-defined barrier between the kingdom of God, and all that lies outside it, it is equally clear that he recognises, welcomes and rewards every approach towards that kingdom. He does not look upon all as equally distant from God until they have obeyed His call, and enrolled themselves as His disciples. Wherever conscience is awake, wherever a man is cherishing the light, is fearful lest by his unfaithfulness he should turn it into darkness, he is assuredly near, and is coming nearer, steadily nearer, to the kingdom of God. There is nothing more touching or more admirable in the ministry of Jesus Christ than His untiring outlook for what is hopeful in human nature.
III. Nevertheless, there was a higher state for this man to reach; he was on the verge of the kingdom; he was still outside it, and why? Because, though he understood the necessity of love, he had not yet learned to love; because, though he knew how he ought to walk and to please God, he did not know himself; he had as yet no sense of his own weakness, no real perception of the evil which taints all men's service, no consciousness of that hopeless insufficiency which can be met only from without and by a Divine Deliverer. And more than this, he had no idea as yet of his own relation to Christ. He knows not what He is, and what He is capable of becoming to him. The critical, redeeming step to which Christ invites us all is impossible until a man awakes to see the gulf which lies between what he is and what he ought to be, and to feel and know that never can he bridge that gulf by any mere effort of his own. When a man comes to realize what sin is; when he sees that if he is to be saved from himself, his weakness must be reinforced by a supernatural strength, and casts himself upon the Deliverer who is mighty to save, then the passage takes place from the natural and earthly to the Divine and heavenly, the boundary line is crossed; he who was nigh is no longer outside, he is within the kingdom, a fellow-citizen with the saints of the kingdom of God.
R. Duckworth, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xviii., p. 193.
Obedience to God the Way to Faith in Christ.
In the words of the text we are taught, first, that the Christian's faith and obedience are not the same religion as that of natural conscience, as being some way beyond it; secondly, that this way is "not far," not far in the case of those who try to act up to their conscience; in other words, that obedience to conscience leads to obedience to the Gospel, which, instead of being something different altogether, is but the completion and perfection of that religion which natural conscience teaches.
I. We are plainly taught in Scripture that perfect obedience is the standard of Gospel holiness. A multitude of texts show that the Gospel leaves us just where it found us, as regards the necessity of our obedience to God; that Christ has not obeyed instead of us, but that obedience is quite as imperative as if Christ had never come; nay, is pressed upon us with additional sanctions; the difference being, not that He relaxes the strict rule of keeping His commandments, but that He gives us spiritual aids, which we have not except through Him, to enable us to keep them. And if we look to the history of the first propagation of the Gospel, we find this view confirmed. As far as we can trace the history, we find the early Christian Church was principally composed of those who had long been in the habit of obeying their consciences carefully, and so preparing themselves for Christ's religion, that kingdom of God from which the text says they were not far.
II. Now let us see the consequences which follow from this great Scripture truth. We see the hopelessness of waiting for any sudden change of heart, if we are at present living in sin. "Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." This is the exhortation. God acknowledges no man as a believer in His Son who does not anxiously struggle to obey His commandments to the utmost; to none of those who seek without striving, and who consider themselves safe, to none of these does He give "power to become the sons of God." To obey God is to be near Christ, and to disobey is to be far from Him.
J. H. Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons,vol. viii., p. 201.
I. Look at some of those things which bring a man near the kingdom of God. (1) It may be said that those are not far from it whose life brings them into connexion with some of its members and privileges. (2) A man is not far from the kingdom of God when he shows a spirit of reverence and candour towards Christ. (3) Another feature which brings a man closer to the Gospel is kindliness and amiability of nature. (4) The last hopeful feature we mention is an interest in the spiritual side of things.
II. Consider what is needed to make a man decidedly belong to the kingdom of God: (1) The first requisite is the new birth. (2) The other is the new life.
J. Ker, Sermons,p. 121.
You may be very near the kingdom, and yet never enter it, and of all cases of spiritual ruin there are none so melancholy, none so sad, as of those who were almost saved, and yet were lost. No doubt there is a sense in which, until we are born again, we are all equally far from the kingdom. The difference between the dead and the living, between the darkness of midnight and the radiance of noon, is one not of degree, but of kind. There is some truth here, but it is truth that requires to be wisely and guardedly stated. There is a hard and extravagant way of stating it that is repugnant to thoughtful and cultured minds, and sometimes brings the Gospel into ridicule. There cannot be a question that, of persons yet unsaved, some are nearer to salvation than others. There are circumstances in life, there are elements of character, there are conditions of mind, which make this man's case more hopeful than that, and his conversion a thing less to be wondered at. Note four features in this young scribe's case, which probably brought to our Lord's lips the words of my text.
I. He was "not far from the kingdom," because he had begun to think seriously on religion. You observe that in his manner and language there is not a trace of frivolity or captious-ness. The spirit of earnest, reverential inquiry is one to be commended and encouraged, and rarely leads a man into the entanglement of error. Because this lawyer was devoutly feeling his way, and seeking further light, our Lord looked him kindly in the face, and said "Thou art not far from the kingdom of God."
II. He was not far from the kingdom, because he had already begun to attach greater importance to the spirit than to the letter. "To love the Lord with all one's heart, and to love one's neighbour as oneself, was more," he said, "than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." As a German theologian profoundly observes on this passage, "He who recognises the worth of love is near the kingdom of God; he who has himself felt it is in that kingdom."
III. This young man was pronounced "not far from the kingdom of God," because he was sincerely desirous of acting up to the measure of light which he possessed.
IV. He was declared to be "not far from the kingdom of God," because he was amiable and virtuous. He was strictly moral, circumspect and pure. He was a gentleman, a man of sound principle, and good breeding. His high-toned principle and character were in his favour, and made his salvation more probable than had they been otherwise.
J. Thain Davidson, The City Youth,p. 267.
References: Mark 12:34. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xxvi., No. 1517; Ibid., My Sermon Notes: Gospels and Acts,p. 77; F. W. Farrar, In the Days of thy Youth,p. 265; Preacher's Monthly,vol. ix., p. 170; Homiletic Magazine,vol. xi., p. 139; H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xxiv., p. 120; Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times,"vol. v., p. 297. Mark 12:35-44. H. M. Luckock, Footprints of the Son of Man,p. 274.Mark 12:37. S. A. Brooke, Christ in Modern Life,p. 31; Christian World Pulpit,vol. xii., p. 19; A. Mursell, Ibid.,vol. xxiii., p. 388; Clergyman's Magazine,vol. i., p. 36. Mark 12:38-40. W. Hanna, Our Lord's Life on Earth,p. 401.