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MARK 10:23 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
Mark 10:22Mark 10:24
“And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!”
Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God — the teaching to the disciples follows the man's departure. How hard — not impossible (verse 27 will address that) but genuinely, structurally difficult. The rich person's challenge is not moral (wealth is not inherently evil) but psychological and spiritual: wealth creates the illusion of self-sufficiency, the false confidence that security can be purchased and maintained. The kingdom requires the dependence of the child; wealth encourages the self-reliance of the self-made.

Church Fathers on Mark 10:23

A certain man had heard from the Lord that only they who are willing to be like little children are worthy to enter into the kingdom of heaven, and therefore he desires to have explained to him, not in parables, but openly, by the merits of what works a man may attain everlasting life.

Bede · 8th century

I wonder at this young man, who when all others come to Christ to be healed of their infirmities, begs of Him the possession of everlasting life, notwithstanding his love of money, the malignant passion which afterwards caused his sorrow.

Theophylact · 11th century

For in that He loved, or kissed him [ed. note: osculaius, interpretation in Ed. Ben. (?)], He appears to affirm the truth of his profession, in saying that he had fulfilled all those things; for on applying His mind to him, He saw that the man answered with a good conscience.

Origen · 3rd century · in Evan. tom. xv, 14
Read all 15 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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Mark 10:23 — Community Reflections | HolyStudy