The Rich young man

We have been talking this week about the Rich Young man. This passage can be found here. In this passage Jesus meets a man who is very rich. We learn the this man thinks that God will think very highly of him due to his great wealth. At that time rich people were thought to be very close to God.

We also learn that this man thought getting into heaven was all to do with the commandments and things that you did. He thought that following the rules made you good. Remember that Jesus focuses with him on the commandments which are to do with your actions. Not to do with your faith. The man was so busy trying to be good that he had not maintained a faithful relationship with God.

It could be argued that this passage teaches it is impossible to be rich Christian. But actually Jesus says that nothing is impossible with God. It is possible, just very hard. As hard as for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. The reason this man went away sad was because he had great wealth and he was not willing to give this up in order to follow Jesus.

We see that he did not recognise how important Jesus was, he calls him merely 'Good teacher.' He does not recognise or realise that Jesus is the Messiah.

Do you think it is possible for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven?