Should the rich strive to become beggars ~ Cross reference of Matthew 19:16 to Exodus 20:12

1st century is understood to be a time when the messianic expectations were very high and everyone believed that very soon the messianic age will begin and the messiah will rule over Israel.

Josephus / Talmud record at least three men who came before Jesus claiming they were the messiah and each of them was killed. The Essenes lived a very pious life in the dessert of Kumaran and thought they would usher in the messianic age by being pure and praying for the messiah to come.

I always wondered if the John, Jesus, Jesus's disciples, early followers of Jesus & Paul thought that the end of times was at hand. You see

• John and Jesus preach "repent, the end is near"
• John seeing no redemptive actions from Jesus asks Jesus if he is the "one" or they should look for another.  
• Disciples getting restless not seeing the messianic age repeatedly ask him when he will restore Israel?
• Jesus & his disciples did not have any livelihood & lived out of the food given to them by people
• Jesus teaches people to distance themselves from the worries of this world.
• The "Jews" who thronged Jesus and loved him, suddenly became the "evil Jews" and wanted him dead. [Could it be that these "evil Jews" expected Jesus to defeat the Romans but here they see him being arrested by the  Romans]  
• After Jesus died, you see disciples selling what little they had and giving to the poor, either hoping G-d will reward them or that Jesus will return any day now and take them to heaven
• Even Paul preaches that "Any day now" the end will come and Jesus will take us to heaven.

Unfortunately, the messianic age and the role of the messiah as we see in Tanakh is not understood by Christians.

All Images are links to Google Images. Copyright violations not intended.

All Greek Text references are from NIV and Tanakh references are from Chabad.

This post is not intended to offend anyone's faith but for those people who are Seeking the truth of THE ONE TRUE G-D of the universe to who we owe all our love, gratitude & devotion.

My encouragement to you is that you read the whole chapter of Tanakh that the Greek text quotes so you get the context and understand what G-d actually said.

G-d Bless and Seek THE Truth.

Matthew 19:16 Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” 17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.” 18 “Which ones?” he inquired. Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and mother,’[c] and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’[d]” 20 “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?” 21 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

Exodus 20:12 Honor your father and your mother, in order that your days be lengthened on the land that the Lord, your God, is giving you. 13 You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 14 You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, his manservant, his maidservant, his ox, his donkey, or whatever belongs to your neighbor."

Deuteronomy 5:16 Honor your father and your mother as the Lord your God commanded you, in order that your days be lengthened, and that it may go well with you on the land that the Lord, your God, is giving you. 17 You shall not murder. And you shall not commit adultery. And you shall not steal. And you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 18 And you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor shall you desire your neighbor's house, his field, his manservant, his maidservant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

• If you read what Jesus said to the rich man, it is perfectly in line with Torah. 
• I listed some facts in the beginning of the post. Here again you see Jesus asking the rich man to sell all he has and follow him. I think he said this because 
• He reasoned that any day now the messianic age will start and all this wealth will be meaningless. [Incidentally Tanakh does not say that in the messianic age, people will have no needs or that people will be like angels]
• He thought this man with his riches will be tempted to do evil and may harm his righteousness.
• I will not dwell on the Torah passages as Jesus spoke well that one needs to obey G-d's laws. 
• I wish to call out some points that struck me about this passage and about Jesus's teachings.
• He says there is only one good and that is G-d. This statement says that Jesus was not sinless like Christians and Greek texts claims
• Jesus tells the rich man to obey the law. He does not say "wait a bit longer and I will die for you and then you must believe in me to have eternal life"
• Paul who wrote his letters around 50 CE, came up the idea that Jesus will make 2 trips. 1st was to die and redeem humans from sin and the 2nd trip to fulfill all the prophesies of Tanakh.
• The church fathers picked up these teachings and put words in Jesus's mouth to support the death of Jesus.