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Our Lord Jesus Christ today emphasized that it will be DIFFICULT for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. (Matt 19:23). He practically demonstrated this with a rich young man (Matt 19: 16-22). In explaining this, many pastors and priests assert that this passage has nothing to do with material wealth perhaps in order to defend themselves and their rich patrons. Do you know why it is difficult? Rich means having more than enough. Poor means not having enough or not having at all. You know that it is selfish to have more than enough as a follower of Christ. Any excess poured on a filled cup is wasted. Christ instructed that these excesses from the rich should be given to the poor so that they can have enough. The rich is afraid that if the poor has enough, his authority will be shaken. So he may not be willing to donate the excesses but will rather allow it to waste.
The kingdom of God is spiritual and not material. In order to inherit it in life (as a Christian) or after life, you must shelve all material distractions ranging from property, money, education, positions of authority, beauty, power to your physical body. If at the gate of the kingdom, there are security agents posted to shelve these possessions before one enters the kingdom, the rich and the poor, who would be cleared first? I mean, it will take the rich several hours, even years to shelve tons of luggage, property, wealth, money, power etc acquired over the years which he is closely attached to. In most cases, most rich men will not subject themselves to such rigours and may decide to walk away to hell easily like the young man in Matthew 19.