The Rich Young Man^(A)

¹⁶ Once a man came to Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what good thing must I do to receive eternal life?”

¹⁷ “Why do you ask me concerning what is good?” answered Jesus. “There is only One who is good. Keep the commandments if you want to enter life.”

^18 (B)“What commandments?” he asked.

Jesus answered, “Do not commit murder; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not accuse anyone falsely; ^19 (C)respect your father and your mother; and love your neighbor as you love yourself.”

²⁰ “I have obeyed all these commandments,” the young man replied. “What else do I need to do?”

²¹ Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven; then come and follow me.”

²² When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he was very rich.

²³ Jesus then said to his disciples, “I assure you: it will be very hard for rich people to enter the Kingdom of heaven. ²⁴ I repeat: it is much harder for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.”

²⁵ When the disciples heard this, they were completely amazed. “Who, then, can be saved?” they asked.

²⁶ Jesus looked straight at them and answered, “This is impossible for human beings, but for God everything is possible.”

²⁷ Then Peter spoke up. “Look,” he said, “we have left everything and followed you. What will we have?”

^28 (D)Jesus said to them, “You can be sure that when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne in the New Age, then you twelve followers of mine will also sit on thrones, to rule the twelve tribes of Israel. ²⁹ And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake, will receive a hundred times more and will be given eternal life. ^30 (E)But many who now are first will be last, and many who now are last will be first.

The Rich Man^(A)

¹⁷ As Jesus was starting on his way again, a man ran up, knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to receive eternal life?”

¹⁸ “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked him. “No one is good except God alone. ^19 (B)You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit murder; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not accuse anyone falsely; do not cheat; respect your father and your mother.’”

²⁰ “Teacher,” the man said, “ever since I was young, I have obeyed all these commandments.”

²¹ Jesus looked straight at him with love and said, “You need only one thing. Go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven; then come and follow me.” ²² When the man heard this, gloom spread over his face, and he went away sad, because he was very rich.

²³ Jesus looked around at his disciples and said to them, “How hard it will be for rich people to enter the Kingdom of God!”

²⁴ The disciples were shocked at these words, but Jesus went on to say, “My children, how hard it is to enter the Kingdom of God! ²⁵ It is much harder for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.”

²⁶ At this the disciples were completely amazed and asked one another, “Who, then, can be saved?”

²⁷ Jesus looked straight at them and answered, “This is impossible for human beings but not for God; everything is possible for God.”

²⁸ Then Peter spoke up, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.”

²⁹ “Yes,” Jesus said to them, “and I tell you that those who leave home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and for the gospel, ³⁰ will receive much more in this present age. They will receive a hundred times more houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and fields—and persecutions as well; and in the age to come they will receive eternal life. ^31 (C)But many who are now first will be last, and many who are now last will be first.”