And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. [1]Jesus' answer has two parts. Part one required the man not to commit murder or adultery, steal from, bear false witness against or defraud another, but required him to honor his parents. All that is from the Old Testament and if followed, according to the Gospel, is enough to have eternal life. Part two of Jesus answer required the man to sell everything he owned and give to the poor and follow Him.
Jesus would not have given a two-part answer had the man been satisfied with the first part and went home. However, the man continued speaking and told Jesus that he had done all of what was required. I believe that he kept talking with Jesus because he did not feel spiritually fulfilled by obeying only the commandments from the Old Testament and wanted to do something more. What more he could do he did not know until Jesus spoke again to him. This time Jesus spoke of Himself as One to be followed.
This is my conclusion: Part one alone is sufficient for a person to have eternal life. This applies to everyone. For those who wish to follow Christ more closely, to lead a more spiritually fulfilling life, need to do more. They need to do all of part one and also part two. Part two requires them to divorce themselves from the worldly cares [2] and possessions and follow Jesus in His poverty. [3]
I think it is critical to note that the emphasis in part two is on following Jesus in poverty and not on the poor being given money from the sale of possessions [4]. Jesus did not dwell on the poor or what they ought to do with cash donations. From what I have read so far, I do not remember Jesus paying much attention to the squalid conditions of the poor and how much they have (or lack) in donations but He was clear and precise about those who were willing to be poor and follow Him. I also do not remember Jesus performing any miracle that turned a poor person into a rich one even though He turned water into wine at a wedding at Cana for folks who apparently were wealthy enough to have a wedding and to entertain guests who apparently drank a lot more wine than the newlyweds had anticipated [5].
Based on the lack of miracles making the poor rich or parables about income redistribution, was therefore Jesus uncaring about the poor? Not at all. Jesus loves the poor who believe in Him, who care not about worldly possessions and who follow Him, and Jesus loves those who feed those who hunger, hydrate those who thirst, clothe those who are naked, visit those who are imprisoned or sick and host those who are strangers. [6] When Jesus talked about the poor, I believe He was talking about the strictly poor and not relative poor, whereas when modern religious (and secular) leaders speak of poverty, they are often referring to relative poverty, relative unequal living standards based on what the well-to-doers have and the not-so-well-to-doers want to have but do not need and cannot afford to have.
From what little I know, and perhaps I know to little to be writing this, I nonetheless conclude that eternal life can be attained based on what Jesus said in Mark 10:17-22, but not based on poverty alone without Christ or on lip-service alone paid by the self-righteous ones calling for aid to those in poverty and in need.
[1] http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+10%3A17-22
[2] Caring about one's parents is part of honoring one's parents. I do not know how a man of cloth cares for his parents when they become old, especially when he is the only child. I like to believe that when a person is called to become a religious, he or she will have siblings or relatives who will care of his or her parents in a worldly manner while he or she will care for them through prayers. I also like to believe that parents of those serving God are cared for by God. I do not know what happened to the father of Francesco d'Assisi who was angry at his son when he chose to follow Christ. I hope he had finally accepted and understood Francesco and God forgave his sins and saved him.
[3] That is not easy to do and not many religious do it the way that Jesus expected. Francesco d'Assisi had done so, and I think Chiara d'Assisi as well.
[4] From the pope on down, a lot of time is spent talking about poverty and the poor, as if throwing money at those who are destitute is a panacea of sorts. It is far more practical and useful to identify and locate those who are in dire need, those who hunger and thirst, and those who are sick, to give to them food, water and medication, and find concrete ways to help them rather than pay lip-service on a podium while they themselves are well-fed, well-inebriated, I mean well-hydrated, and well-medicated when sick. How often does one see a pope, a cardinal or a bishop actually living among the destitute and diseased and taking care of them compared to how often they talk about them and the need for someone to take care of them?
[5] http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+2%3A1-11&version=ESV
[6] http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+25:31-46
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