The Responsibilities Of Wealth
And, as Jesus was resuming his journey, a man came running up to him, and threw himself on his knees before him.
“Good Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to gain Immortal Life?”
“Why do you call me good?” answered Jesus. “No one is good but God. You know the commandments—
“‘Do not kill. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not say what is false about others. Do not cheat. Honor thy father and thy mother?'”
“Teacher,” he replied, “I have observed all these from my childhood.”
Jesus looked at the man, and his heart went out to him, and be said:
“There is still one thing wanting in you; go and sell all that you have, and give to the poor, and you shall have wealth in Heaven; then come and follow me.”
But the man’s face clouded at these words, and be went away distressed, for he had great possessions.
Then Jesus looked round, and said to his disciples:
“How hard it will be for men of wealth to enter the Kingdom of God!”
The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again:
“My children, how hard a thing it is to enter the Kingdom of Godl It is easier for a camel to get through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God.”
“Then who can be saved?” they exclaimed in the greatest astonishment.
Jesus looked at them, and answered:
“With men it is impossible, but not with God; for everything is possible with God.”
“But we,” began Peter, “we left everything and have followed you.”
“I tell you,” said Jesus, “there is no one who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or mother, or father, or children, or land, on my account and on account of the Good News, who will not receive a hundred times as much, even now in the present—houses, and brothers, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and land—though not without persecutions, and, in the age that is coming, Immortal Life. But many who are first now will then be last, and the last will be first.”
—Mark.
The loss of a battle, or of a million dollars, is nothing compared with the loss of a home.