There is the rich young ruler. Look at how he is designated—rich, young, ruler. Then we learn spiritual things are on his mind. He wants to know what he has to do in order to have eternal life. It is then revealed that he is a good moral person. He has kept the commandments for as long as he can remember.
What more can you want? He seems to be everything we would want to be ourselves and we would want our children to be.
But he walks away from Jesus because there is something in his life he loves more than following Jesus.
Then there is the rich man who is placed in contrast to a poor man whose body is covered with the marks of disease.
This rich man is, well, rich. He continually dressed in the very best clothing. He lived a joyous life. He lived in splendor and luxury everyday.
Sounds like the kind of life we are searching for.
Then we come to the end and Jesus tells us of their eternal outcome. The man we want to be is not the man we will want to become. The man we would avoid becomes the man we want to be with.
Why does Jesus show us people like this? Perhaps it is to remind us not to live for the things of this world but to live for him.
Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (1 Jn. 2:15 )