Parable Of The Rich Young Man

Notwithstanding what Jesus told the rich young man to sell all he owned to give to the poor [1], giving in the Gospels does not mean the relinquishment and transfer of wealth, but the giving of love to one another and to God.  It is only when one desires to be perfect does one need to be without possessions to follow Christ which was what Francesco d'Assisi chose to do.

Most people are so obsessed with possessing and possessions that when they read a parable that says, "go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven," [2] they immediately focus on what they own now and what they would expect after they die, which is to have treasure in Heaven, because they have given what they own to the poor.

Another interpretation is to place the focus on the poor who would themselves become rich after receiving everything the rich man had to give them (imagine the rich man is as rich, if not richer than Bill Gates with $76 billion [3] or $76,000 million).  If that rich man gave all he had evenly to 76,000 poor people, he would have created 76,000 new millionaires who would then get together and give their aggregate $76 billion, if they all desired to be perfect and follow Christ, to another 76,000 poor people who would then repeat the process because they too, would want to follow Christ and be perfect, and so on, until all the people in the world would have become millionaires once until the last 76,000 would have no more "poor" people to give to, in which case, they would simply decline to accept the money or take it and burn it to stay poor and follow Christ.  Presumably, they too would find treasure in Heaven even this last group had no poor people to dump their wealth onto in order that they would have treasure in Heaven.

So what happens to a world of poor people?  Do they all wait to die so that they will have treasure in Heaven?  Jesus said that the man would have treasure in Heaven if he sold all his possessions and gave to the poor but He did not say when he will have treasure in Heaven.  Is he to assume that he will have treasure in Heaven after his death?  Can one not enjoy treasure in Heaven as soon as one forgoes all one owns and follows Christ during one's life?  Of course one can, just look at the life of Francesco d'Assisi after he no longer lived the life of the son of a wealthy merchant.

Will a world of poor people who follow Christ turn earth into Heaven?  I imagine that can be possible if none of them falls into sin, but how realistic is that?  People may not have riches, but they will still have jealousy, arguments, complaints and so on because following Christ is not easy.  Loving unconditionally is not easy.  Being San Francesco d'Assisi is not easy.

Short of wishing to be perfect, short of having heavenly treasure on earth, the rich man decided not to sell his possessions to give to the poor and follow Christ.  He wanted to hold onto his billions.  Holding onto one's billions does not disqualify one from entering Heaven, but having one's billions makes it difficult for one to experience Heaven on earth.  Only by detachment from wealth can one truly be free and experience Heaven on earth, and only by having faith can one be a follower of Christ and find in Him the treasure He spoke of in His parable of the rich young man.

To follow Christ means to love unconditionally like Christ had loved His Father, His disciples and all of us by dying on the cross.  To love unconditionally means to give of oneself to others, not just by throwing money at the poor, even though the poor would benefit by having money in this material world that is contaminated by envy and greed, obsessed with social justice, is hypocritical with respect to fate's inequalities and opportunities, takes for granted God's gift of life and even disrespects it.

In this day and age, money alone, without the love of God, seems to satisfy a great number of people, poor and rich alike.  That, to them, seems to be enough.  They are not unlike the rich man who went home with his wealth, without following Christ.



[1] http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+19%3A21-22&version=NIV
[2] Ibid.
[3] http://www.forbes.com/sites/abrambrown/2014/03/03/forbes-billionaires-full-list-of-the-worlds-500-richest-people/