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I'm predisposed to mysticism, so I probably read this passage a lot less mundanely than most. I'm also a minimalist and tend to view spiritual teachings as enigmatic ways of pointing out something obvious that we are conditioned to overlook. To me, this passage says: "You don't get to keep anything."

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I'm less predisposed to mysticism, but I agree with you conclusion on "You don't get to keep anything." I would also add "You don't get to buy your way in."

Often in the gospels we hear Jesus say things that stump both us and the hearers at the time. It is almost like he is inviting us to search for meaning behind his words. He is speaking in metaphors, and that much is clear with how "off" his responses sometimes feel to us.

I would put it equivalent to Sinclair's famous, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”

In this case the understanding = the religious stuff.

So it's basically the same.

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