The Rich Young Ruler

(Matthew 19:16–30, Mark 10:17–31)

18 Then a certain ruler asked Him “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

19 “Why do you call Me good?” Jesus replied “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.’[fn]”

21 “All these I have kept from my youth,” he said.

22 On hearing this, Jesus told him, “You still lack one thing: Sell everything you own and give to [the] poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.”

23 But when [the ruler] heard this, he became very sad, because he was extremely wealthy.

24 Seeing [the man’s] sadness,[fn] Jesus said, “How hard [it is] for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! 25 Indeed, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

26 Those who heard [this] asked, “Who then can be saved?”

27 But [Jesus] said, “What [is] impossible with man is possible with God.”

28 “Look,” said Peter, “we have left all we had[fn] to follow You.”

29 “Truly I tell you,” [Jesus] replied “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents[fn] or children for the sake of the kingdom of God 30 will fail to receive many times more in this age—and in the age to come, eternal life.”