Stuff Jesus said: sell everything

A rich young guy came to Jesus and asked him what he had to do to be good. Jesus told him to obey the commandments which he said he had done. So Jesus told him, If you want to be perfect, go sell everything you own! Give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven. Then come and be my follower. We can assume that the young man was good because he obeyed the commandments, but Jesus challenged him, that if he wanted to be perfect, he had to sell everything he owned and give it to the poor. The rich young man was sad when he heard this. It's easy to get attached to money and stuff, particularly in western society. In verse 23-24 Jesus said, It’s terribly hard for rich people to get into the kingdom of heaven! In fact, it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to get into God’s kingdom. He used exaggeration to illustrate how difficult it is for someone who is rich to be born again, because they rely on their riches, instead of God. A camel would have possibly have been the largest animal they were familiar with and the eye of a need was possibly the smallest hole they could relate to. He does go on to clarify that with God everything is possible - even a rich man being born again.

The Enduring Word commentary warns us against two mistakes:

1. Assuming that this command relates to everyone
2. Assuming this command relates to no one.

God has not commanded all of us to sell everything and give the money to the poor - just the rich young man in this story. However, Deuteronomy 15:10 says, You should be happy to give the poor what they need, because then the Lord will make you successful in everything you do. I'm sure he has commanded other people to give up everything and I know of missionaries who have done exactly that.

The important message in this passage is that we should be prepared to give up everything to follow Jesus and we should share what we have with the poor.