“And he said to him, ‘Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.’ And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, ‘You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.’ Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions” (Mark 10:20–22 ESV, see also 17-25). He had lots of stuff; his life was built around accumulation “for me”. The thought that his relationship with God might involve being generous to others was not in his thinking. Besides, his wealth had become an idol, and the only way this man could get rid of the idol was to get rid of it all. He needed to put “You” back in to “Me, You and God”; this would have changed “sorrowful” into “joyful”.
