₁₇As Jesus was starting on his way again, a man ran up, knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to receive eternal life?”

₁₈“Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked him. “No one is good except God alone. ₁₉You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit murder; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not accuse anyone falsely; do not cheat; respect your father and your mother.’ ”

₂₀“Teacher,” the man said, “ever since I was young, I have obeyed all these commandments.”

₂₁Jesus looked straight at him with love and said, “You need only one thing. Go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven; then come and follow me.” ₂₂When the man heard this, gloom spread over his face, and he went away sad, because he was very rich.

₂₃Jesus looked round at his disciples and said to them, “How hard it will be for rich people to enter the Kingdom of God!”

₂₄The disciples were shocked at these words, but Jesus went on to say, “My children, how hard it is to enter the Kingdom of God! ₂₅It is much harder for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.”

₂₆At this the disciples were completely amazed and asked one another, “Who, then, can be saved?”

₂₇Jesus looked straight at them and answered, “This is impossible for human beings, but not for God; everything is possible for God.”

₂₈Then Peter spoke up, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.”

₂₉“Yes,” Jesus said to them, “and I tell you that anyone who leaves home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and for the gospel, ₃₀will receive much more in this present age. He will receive a hundred times more houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields — and persecutions as well; and in the age to come he will receive eternal life. ₃₁But many who now are first will be last, and many who now are last will be first.”