Wealth And Following

Et ille respondens ait: Magister, haec omnia observavi a juventute mea. Jesus autem intuitus eum, dilexit eum, et dixit illi: Unum tibi deest... Non est putandus homo iste vel voto tentantis, ut quidam putavere, Dominum interrogasse, et de sua esse vita mentitus, cum se legis mandata custodisse dicebat, sed simpliciter ut vixerit esse confessus, quia si mendacio aut simulationis noxa reus teneretur, nequaquam intuitus arcana cordis ejus diligere diceretur Jesus. Diligit enim Dominus eos qui mandata legis, quamvis minora, custodiunt, sed nihilominus quod in lege minus fuerat, his qui perfecti esse desiderant ostendit: quia non venit solvere legem aut prophetas, sed adimplere. Ad quam profecto adimpletionem pertinet, quod hic consequenter adjungit. Vade, quaecunque habes vende et da pauperibus, et habebis thesaurum in coelo; et veni, sequere me. Quicunque perfectus esse voluerit debet vendere quae habet, et non ex parte vendere, sicut Ananias fecit et Saphira, sed totum vendere, et, cum vendiderit, dare omne pauperibus, et sic sibi praeparare thesaurum in regno coelorum. Nec hoc ad perfectionem sufficit, nisi post contemptas divitias Salvatorem sequatur, id est, relictis malis, faciat bona. Facilius enim sacculus contemnitur quam voluntas. Multi divitias relinquentes Dominum non sequuntur. Sequitur autem Dominum qui imitator ejus est, et per vestigia illius graditur. Qui enim dicit se in Christo credere, debet quomodo ille ambulavit et ipse ambulare, sicque perveniet ad regnum coeleste. Rabanus Maurus, Homilia CXVIII, Lectio sancti Evangelii secundum Marcum. Source: Migne PL 110.370c-371a

And he answered him, 'Master, I have observed all these things from my youth.' And Jesus looked at him and loved him and said to him, 'But you lack one thing...' 1 It should not be thought that this man questioned the Lord as a temptation, being deceitful about his own life, when he said he kept the commandments, but that he innocently confessed how he lived, because if the guilt of lying and deceit had clung to him it would never have been said that Jesus, He who knows the secret things of the heart, 2 loved him. The Lord loves those who keep the commandments of the law, even the lesser ones, but nevertheless to those who desire to be perfect He shows what was lacking in the law, because He had not come to set aside the law and prophets but to fulfill them, 3 to which fulfillment this undoubtedly pertains, and because of which it is then added, 'Go and sell whatever you have and give it to the poor and you shall have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me.' Whoever wishes to be perfect should sell what he has, and not just a part, as Ananias and Sapphira did, 4 but the whole, and when he has sold it he should give it all to the poor and so prepare for himself treasure in heaven. But this is not enough for perfection unless after wealth is scorned the Saviour is followed, that is, with evils forsaken let good be done. 5 It is easier to scorn the purse than the will. Many who abandon wealth do not follow the Lord, for to follow the Lord is to imitate Him, and to walk in his footsteps. He who says that he believes in Christ should himself walk as He walked, and so He shall come to the kingdom of heaven. Rabanus Maurus, from Homily 118, On A Reading from the Gospel of Saint Mark 1 Mk 10.20-21 2 Ps 43.22 3 Mt 5.17 4 Acts 5.1-11 5 Ps 33.15, 36.27