Mark 10:21

beholding him The same word, which occurs also in Mark 10:27, in the original is applied (a) to the Baptist, when he "looked upon Jesus," and said, "Behold the Lamb of God" (John 1:36), (b) to our Lord's lookat St peter (i) when He named him Cephas (John 1:42), and (ii) when He turned and looked uponhim just before the cock crew for the second time (Luke 22:61).

loved him Literally, esteemed him, or was pleased with him, for His Eye penetrated his inmost being, and saw within him an honest striving after better things, and the noblest form of life. Lightfoot remarks that the Jewish Rabbis were wont to kiss the head of such pupils as answered well. Some gesture at least we may believe that our Lord used to shew that the young man pleased Him, both by his question and by his answer.

One thing thou lackest He thus proposed to him one short crucial test of his real condition, and way to clearer self-knowledge. He had fancied himself willing to do whatever could be required: he could now see if he were really so.

take up the cross, and follow me See ch. Mark 8:34. But some MSS. omit the words. "Poor, friendless, outlawed, Jesus abated no jot of His awful claims, loftier than human monarch had ever dreamed of making, on all who sought citizenship in His Kingdom."