Isn't it interesting that Matthew contrasts two stories in the same chapter. The one is how Jesus took a little child and blessed it. The other is about a rich young man who was disappointed by Jesus' teaching on wealth. Jesus' welcome was the exact opposite to each as to what they probably normally received. The little child was welcomed and the rich young man was told to give to the poor and follow Jesus.
We may have all witnessed people pandering to rich people in churches, and being rather dismissive of children or others of similar low social status, who may have little or no money to contribute. Our natural tendency is not to follow Christ's example, but to think of the financial consequences of offending a well to do contributor. It's probably the same story in just about all of our churches. Status counts with us, but Jesus set a different example.
Our culture also often has certain built in presuppositions, assumptions. We often assume that a poor person is that way because of some fault of theirs and that a rich person is blessed by God because they have done something right. Yet, the opposite can also be the truth. A poor person may have suffered loss at the hands of unscrupulous people and the rich person may figuratively have blood on their hands. We simply cannot judge.
In Matthew 19:16 the question asked by the wealthy young man was about what he could do. That is often a problem not just for the wealthy. Rich people in particular can tend to want to salve their consciences by doing something. Perhaps that is one reason why some people, after having climbed over the bodies of others to accumulate, spend the rest of their lives trying to make up for it by philanthropy. Yet, we know that salvation is not gained by what we do, but by following Jesus Christ and allowing him to teach us a new way.
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