Hello, I’ve been struggling with this passage from the Bible Matthew 19:21 where the rich man is told to sell all of his possession give the money to the poor, and to go and follow Jesus in order to enter the Kingdom of God. This passage and His commandment seem clear and literal to me, so why do many people seem to treat it otherwise?
There are good reasons to take the passage as applying literally to some people but not to all. A good way to begin understanding this passage is to look at people who do take the passage literally: monks. Whenever a person joins a religious order, they have to first give all their earthly possessions away. You take nothing with you into a religious order but the habit you receive from them. This is part of the vow of poverty. They also take a vow of continence, based on Matthew 19:12, and a vow of obedience, based on Hebrews 13:17.
Collectively, these three vows are part of the “way of perfection” which is discussed in early Catholic literature. Eusebius of Caesarea, speaking of monastic life, says: “Such then is the perfect form of the Christian life. …the other [way is] more humble, more human, [and] permits men to join in pure nuptials and to produce children…it allows them to have minds for farming, for trade, and the other more secular interests as well as for religion…so that all men, whether Greeks or barbarians, have their part in the coming of salvation, and profit by the teaching of the Gospel.” (Proof of the Gospel Chapter 8)
Notice that: the “perfect” way of Christian life is the life of the monastic, who gives up all his property, gives up marriage, and renders daily obedience to a religious superior. The “more humble, more human” way of Christian life is the life of the ordinary person, who keeps his job, marries his bride, and lives most of his life “in the world,” with its ordinary duties.
In the passage about the Rich Young Man, Jesus first proposes to him the more humble, more human way: all he needs to do is keep the Commandments. Then the young man says “I have done all that from my youth!” which is not something most people can say. So Jesus looks at him “with great love” (a detail provided only by Mark 10:21), knowing he is called to something higher, and tells him what that entails: “If you would be perfect, go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. And come, follow me.” He proposes the “way of perfection,” the life of the apostles, the life of a missionary, not for all, but for this young man and others who are called to it.
So we as Catholics do take the passage literally. But we acknowledge that there is evidence that it was not a command to Everybody, but only to those for whom it is given, like with the other vows, the vow of continence and the vow of obedience.
Also, there is very good evidence that Jesus did not intend All of his followers to give up every possession, because some of his followers were wealthy and had His blessing. Think of the Centurion who had a hundred men at his command, or Nicodemus, or Zaccheus, and think of the “rich” people who were under the care of St. Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:17, the proconsul of Acts 13:12, the city treasurer of Romans 16:23, and Cornelius of Acts 10:1. The Scriptures describe all these people in ways that suggest they were rich, yet none of the apostles told them that they had to give up all their possessions. Did they “not take Jesus literally”? Or did they know that this was a command to some and not all, as the verse itself suggests? I think the evidence is in favor of the Catholic view: some people are called to give away all their possessions, but not everyone, and for the former class, the verse about the rich young man is quite literal.
I hope that helps. Please let me know.
