"Sell everything you own and follow me." is more or less Jesus' response to a rich man who wants to get into heaven. Resignation (sell everything) is one thing, but it is continual (follow me). Temptation is ever present to re-awaken your desire for whatever was given up. It is an infinite struggle. Also faith itself requires infinite scrutiny, or it becomes a lie.
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And Jesus looking upon him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me. But his countenance fell at the saying, and he went away sorrowful: for he was one that had great possessions.
I especially like Mark's account because it mentions that 'Jesus looked at him, and loved him.' That tiny detail makes me read it in a different way.
It's as if Jesus is doing a double take. It's like he's finally found a student who has done the required reading. It's like he's finding fruit in a land full of fake trees. He sees something in the young man - a glimmer of hope, a potential crop. Here's a young punk who turns up every day knocking. The kid has moxie.
So he tells him the truth - but the truth is a father willing to sacrifice his only son, a son sold into slavery, a servant in a foreign land, the head of a prophet on a silver platter and apostles in prison, an angry mob and three men in a furnace, a pair of wrists with holes in them, and Jesus standing in the doorway offering his hand, his eyes gentle and full of mercy, saying, 'leave everything behind and follow me.' Already knowing what the young man's answer will be.
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