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Gospel Reading - Renouncing the world

¹⁶Someone came to Jesus with this question: “Good master, what must I do to have eternal life?”

¹⁷“When you call me good you are calling me God,” Jesus replied, “for God alone is truly good.^a But to answer your question, you can get to heaven if you keep the commandments.”

¹⁸“Which ones?” the man asked.

And Jesus replied, “Don’t kill, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t lie, ¹⁹honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself!”

²⁰“I’ve always obeyed every one of them,” the youth replied. “What else must I do?”

²¹Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go and sell everything you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” ²²But when the young man heard this, he went away sadly, for he was very rich.

²³Then Jesus said to his disciples, “It is almost impossible for a rich man to get into the Kingdom of Heaven. ²⁴I say it again — it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God!”

²⁵This remark confounded the disciples. “Then who in the world can be saved?” they asked.

²⁶Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, no one. But with God, everything is possible.”

1. Implied from Luke 18:19.