The rich young ruler

I’m no longer a Christian, see Lost and How I went to theology school and lost my faith.
Though I still think this is a reasonable interpretation of this passage.

I had a realisation about the story of the rich young man today. As well as being about the love of money it’s also about self-righteousness.

This might have been obvious to everyone but me, but I thought I’d share it anyway.

He effectively said “What do I need to do? actually never mind that - I’m pretty awesome - look I’ve followed all these rules”

Why did he come to Jesus? He wanted to be told “Well done. Good rule following. That’s all you needed to do and you’ve done it brilliantly.”

Jesus responded instead: “You still haven’t made yourself righteous. Look, you’re still self-centred in this way. Sort this out and follow me.”

A bit of reading between the lines for y’all.