Mt 19, 16-21 Sell what you have and give to (the) poor

(Mt 19, 16-21) Sell what you have and give to (the) poor

[16] Now someone approached him and said, "Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?" [17] He answered him, "Why do you ask me about the good? There is only One who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments." [18] He asked him, "Which ones?" And Jesus replied, " 'You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; [19] honor your father and your mother'; and 'you shall love your neighbor as yourself.'" [20] The young man said to him, "All of these I have observed. What do I still lack?" [21] Jesus said to him, "If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to (the) poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

(CCC 2052) "Teacher, what good deed must I do, to have eternal life?" To the young man who asked this question, Jesus answers first by invoking the necessity to recognize God as the "One there is who is good," as the supreme Good and the source of all good. Then Jesus tells him: "If you would enter life, keep the commandments." And he cites for his questioner the precepts that concern love of neighbor: "You shall not kill, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother." Finally Jesus sums up these commandments positively: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Mt 19:16-19). (CCC 2053) To this first reply Jesus adds a second: "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me" (Mt 19:21). This reply does not do away with the first: following Jesus Christ involves keeping the Commandments. The Law has not been abolished (Cf. Mt 5:17), but rather man is invited to rediscover it in the person of his Master who is its perfect fulfillment. In the three synoptic Gospels, Jesus' call to the rich young man to follow him, in the obedience of a disciple and in the observance of the Commandments, is joined to the call to poverty and chastity (Cf. Mt 19:6-12, 21, 23-29). The evangelical counsels are inseparable from the Commandments.