The Rich Young Ruler
18 A ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
19 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked him. “No one is good except God alone.
20 You know the commandments: Do not commit adultery; do not murder; do not steal; do not bear false witness; honor your father and mother.”
21 “I have kept all these from my youth,” he said.
22 When Jesus heard this, he told him, “You still lack one thing: Sell all you have and distribute it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
23 After he heard this, he became extremely sad, because he was very rich.
Possessions and the Kingdom
24 Seeing that he became sad, Jesus said, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!
25 For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
26 Those who heard this asked, “Then who can be saved?”
27 He replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”
28 Then Peter said, “Look, we have left what we had and followed you.”
29 So he said to them, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left a house, wife or brothers or sisters, parents or children because of the kingdom of God,
30 who will not receive many times more at this time, and eternal life in the age to come.”
Commentary
(the following is from Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary, 1706 -- www.christianity.com)
"Many have a great deal in them very commendable, yet perish for lack of some one thing; so this ruler could not bear Christ's terms, which would part between him and his estate. Many who are loth to leave Christ, yet do leave him. After a long struggle between their convictions and their corruptions, their corruptions carry the day. They are very sorry that they cannot serve both; but if one must be quitted, it shall be their God, not their worldly gain.
Men are apt to speak too much of what they have left and lost, of what they have done and suffered for Christ, as Peter did. But we should rather be ashamed that there has been any regret or difficulty in doing it."
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