It's tempting to think that Jesus was condemning the rich man for being rich, but that's not the case. There were wealthy people throughout the early church, and many of them played important roles. Jesus points out with this man what the difficulty is: the man's wealth is the most important to him, or he might lay it down as Jesus asked. The apostles did this, and did so immediately. The wealthy man drew his identity from he money and not from who he could be with Jesus.