The Rich Young Ruler (Matthew 19:16–30)

The texts below are quoted verbatim from public-domain English translations; nothing is paraphrased.

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St. John Chrysostom (c. 347–407)

Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew, Homily 63 (on Matthew 19:16–30) Source: trans. in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 10. Public domain. Full text: https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf110.iii.LX.html

On the tyranny wealth holds over an otherwise earnest soul:

But great is the tyranny of wealth, and it is manifest hence; I mean, that though we be virtuous as to the rest, this ruins all besides.

On "there is none good but one, that is, God":

When therefore He saith, "There is none good;" not as putting Himself out from being good doth He say this, far from it; for he said not, "Why dost thou call me good? I am not good;" but, "there is none good," that is, none amongst men. And when He saith this self-same thing, He saith it not as depriving even men of goodness, but in contradistinction to the goodness of God.

On the Lord's verdict on the rich:

How hardly shall the rich enter into the kingdom of Heaven! ... blaming not riches but them that are held in subjection by them.

On how "hard" is shown to be "impossible":

But having said it was hard; as He proceeds, He shows that it is even impossible, and not merely impossible, but even in the highest degree impossible.

On climbing free of wealth little by little:

Do not then seek all at once, but gently, and by little and little, ascend this ladder, that leads thee up to Heaven.

St. Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376–444)

Commentary on the Gospel of Luke, Sermons 122–123 (on Luke 18:18–27) Source: trans. R. Payne Smith, 1859. Public domain. Full text: https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/cyril_on_luke_11_sermons_110_123.htm

On "Why do you call Me good? None is good but one, God":

In the nature that transcends all, even in God only, is found the attribute of being by nature, and unchangeably good: but the angels, and we upon earth, are good by resembling Him, or rather by participation of Him.

On why the Lord bade this man of all men sell all:

but because he was fond of lucre and very rich, He proceeds at once to that which would grieve him, and says, "Sell all that you have, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me," This was torture to the heart of that covetous man, who so prided himself upon his keeping of the law.

On what the "camel" of the saying is:

Now by a camel He means not the animal of that name, but a thick cable ... for it is the custom of those well versed in navigation to call the thicker cables "camels."

St. Clement of Alexandria (c. 150 – c. 215)

Who is the Rich Man that shall be Saved?, XI, XV, XIX (on Mark 10:17–31) Source: trans. William Wilson, Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 2. Public domain. Full text: https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf02.vi.v.html

On what "Sell thy possessions" really commands:

He does not, as some conceive off-hand, bid him throw away the substance he possessed, and abandon his property; but bids him banish from his soul his notions about wealth, his excitement and morbid feeling about it, the anxieties, which are the thorns of existence, which choke the seed of life.

On the inward act the outward one signifies:

It is not the outward act which others have done, but something else indicated by it, greater, more godlike, more perfect, the stripping off of the passions from the soul itself and from the disposition, and the cutting up by the roots and casting out of what is alien to the mind.

On the man who is poor in purse yet rich in the passions:

If therefore he who casts away worldly wealth can still be rich in the passions ... it is then of no advantage to him to be poor in purse while he is rich in passions.

On who is truly rich:

He then is truly and rightly rich who is rich in virtue, and is capable of making a holy and faithful use of any fortune; while he is spuriously rich who is rich, according to the flesh, and turns life into outward possession, which is transitory and perishing, and now belongs to one, now to another, and in the end to nobody at all.

Origen of Alexandria (c. 185–254)

Commentary on Matthew (on Matthew 19:16–29) As preserved in the Catena Aurea on Matthew. Public domain. Full text: https://www.ccel.org/ccel/aquinas/catena1.ii.xix.html

(Origen's exposition of Matthew beyond 19:12 survives in public-domain English only through the Catena.)

On why our good is not "good" beside the one Good:

For when we depart from evil and do good, that which we do is called good by comparison with what other men do. But when compared with absolute good, in the sense in which it is here said, "There is one good," our good is not good.

On what it is to enter into life:

But any man shall enter into life, if he keep himself from dead works, and seek living works.

On how little Peter had forsaken, and how much it weighed:

For though what he with his brother had left behind them were but little things, yet were they not esteemed as little with God, who considered that out of the fulness of their love they had so forsaken those least things, as they would have forsaken the greatest things if they had had them.

St. Jerome (c. 347–420)

Commentary on Matthew (on Matthew 19:16–24) As preserved in the Catena Aurea on Matthew. Public domain. Full text: https://www.ccel.org/ccel/aquinas/catena1.ii.xix.html

On the spirit in which the young man asked:

He that asks this question is both young, rich, and proud, and he asks not as one that desires to learn, but as tempting Him.

On "There is one good, that is, God":

But because he had styled Him Good Master, and had not confessed Him as God, or as the Son of God, He tells him, that in comparison of God there is no saint to be called good ... and therefore He says, "There is one good, that is, God."

On "hard" and not "impossible":

Because riches once gained are hard to be despised, He saith not it is impossible, but it is hard. Difficulty does not imply the impossibility, but points out the infrequency of the occurrence.

St. Gregory the Great (c. 540–604)

Moralia in Job, Book XXXV (on Matthew 19:24) As preserved in the Catena Aurea on Matthew. Public domain. Full text: https://www.ccel.org/ccel/aquinas/catena1.ii.xix.html

On the camel, the needle, and the humility of the Passion:

Or, by the rich man He intends any one who is proud, by the camel he denotes the right humility. The camel passed through the needle's eye, when our Redeemer through the narrow way of suffering entered in to the taking upon Him death ... But the camel enters the needle's eye easier than the rich man enters the kingdom of heaven; because if He had not first shewn us by His passion the form of His humility, our proud stiffness would never have bent itself to His lowliness.