Matthew 19:13-26

J.B. Phillips New Testament

Jesus welcomes children

^13-15 Then some little children were brought to him, so that he could put his hands on them and pray for them. The disciples frowned on the parents’ action but Jesus said, “You must let little children come to me, and you must never stop them. The kingdom of Heaven belongs to little children like these!” Then he laid his hands on them and went on his way.

Jesus shows that keeping the commandments is not enough

¹⁶ Then it happened that a man came up to him and said, “Master what good thing must I do to secure eternal life?”

¹⁷ “I wonder why you ask me about what is good?” Jesus answered him. “Only one is good. But if you want to enter that life you must keep the commandments.”

^18-19 “Which ones?” he asked. “‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ‘Honour your father and your mother’, and ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’,” replied Jesus.

²⁰ “I have carefully kept all these,” returned the young man. “What is still missing in my life?”

²¹ Then Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go now and sell your property and give the money away to the poor—you will have riches in Heaven. Then come and follow me!”

²² When the young man heard that he turned away crestfallen, for he was very wealthy.

^23-24 Then Jesus remarked to his disciples, “Believe me, a rich man will find it very difficult to enter the kingdom of Heaven. Yes, I repeat, a camel could more easily squeeze through the eye of a needle than a rich man get into the kingdom of God!”

²⁵ The disciples were simply amazed to hear this, and said, “Then who can possibly be saved?”

²⁶ Jesus looked steadily at them and replied, “Humanly speaking it is impossible; but with God anything is possible!”