The Rich and the Kingdom of God
Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life ?”. “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”. “Which ones?” he inquired. Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honour your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”. “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”. Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”. When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
Jesus tells us to follow the commandments; most of us can manage that most days.
Then Jesus tells us to sell and give away everything earthly that we own and to rely on him, knowing that he will provide now and always. How does that feel? It's hard to hear and harder to do and yet that's what Jesus asks of us. How do we respond? I wish I knew; I pray I do enough.
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