Scratching at a Profile

I, as an old kinsman of Cain, have been given to know, and to be able to do, that which would make me acceptable.  Like me in desiring a formula, the rich young man is told only to formalize his divestiture that would be implicit in his following Jesus, and that will fall to the poor in any event.  And like another young man, we are all told that we teeter at the gate of the kingdom.