And Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I tell you that a rich man will enter the kingdom of heaven with difficulty.
Jesus says this immediately after the young man leaves in sorrow, unable to part with his possessions. Now Jesus turns to the disciples and interprets what happened with a general truth: “a rich man will enter the kingdom of heaven with difficulty.” Here “with difficulty” in its proper sense means not that it is impossible, but that it happens very rarely, because material wealth very often becomes a source of a person’s confidence, pride, and self-sufficiency. Jesus is not saying that all rich people are condemned, but he points out the real danger that wealth can captivate a person’s heart so that there is no longer room for God. It is as if he is saying: “Whoever is bound in heart to wealth, even if he lives morally, is still far from the kingdom.” This should be understood as a spiritual warning: a person must sincerely separate from an idolatrous attitude toward possessions if he wants to enter God’s kingdom. This word sounds like a revealing of heaven’s standards: what people value highly may be the very thing that hinders the path of salvation.