You can’t earn God’s favour by doing something good.” You probably don’t say, “Live like God says; he’s good.” Apart from the obvious problem of suggesting anyone could earn eternal life by obeying commands, a vague answer like “Do what God says” is unsatisfying for a project manager used to SMART goals. He has no doubt, like all pious Jews, made regular and generous contributions to the relief of the poor and disadvantaged within his community (that is at least part of what he would understand by “loving your neighbor as yourself”), but Jewish charity operated within prudential limits, whereas Jesus puts no limit to his demand. To follow it will place this self-sufficient young man in the same position as the birds and the flowers in 6:25–32, depending directly on the provision of a heavenly Father for the essentials of life.But even this radical action of dispossession is not simply another “good thing” to do; it is the prelude to something even more far-reaching.…