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Gospel Reading - To win eternal life

¹⁸Once a Jewish religious leader asked him this question: “Good sir, what shall I do to get to heaven?”

¹⁹“Do you realize what you are saying when you call me ‘good’?” Jesus asked him. “Only God is truly good, and no one else.

²⁰“But as to your question, you know what the Ten Commandments say — don’t commit adultery, don’t murder, don’t steal, don’t lie, honor your parents, and so on.” ²¹The man replied, “I’ve obeyed every one of these laws since I was a small child.”

²²“There is still one thing you lack,” Jesus said. “Sell all you have and give the money to the poor — it will become treasure for you in heaven — and come, follow me.”

²³But when the man heard this he went sadly away, for he was very rich.

²⁴Jesus watched him go and then said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God! ²⁵It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God.”

²⁶Those who heard him say this exclaimed, “If it is that hard, how can anyone be saved?”

²⁷He replied, “God can do what men can’t!”

²⁸And Peter said, “We have left our homes and followed you.”

²⁹“Yes,” Jesus replied, “and everyone who has done as you have, leaving home, wife, brothers, parents, or children for the sake of the Kingdom of God, 30 will be repaid many times over now, as well as receiving eternal life in the world to come.”