March 12, 2019 – Click here to listen
Matt. 19:23 speaks to being rich as being analogous to the impossibility of a camel going through the eye of a needle as far as getting into heaven.
Someone years ago, told a story of a gate in the wall around ancient Jerusalem called the “Eye of the Needle,” or the “Needle’s Eye.” This gate was designed in such a way that it could be used by pedestrians but not by invaders on their camels. The only way a camel could get through this “Eye of the Needle” was to be unloaded and crawl through on its knees. This great story – and several variations of it – have made the rounds over the years.
The spiritual analogies were clear. The camel could go through the “Eye of the Needle,” but only after being stripped of its baggage – its wealth! The only problem with this story is that it is not true! There is absolutely no archaeological or historical evidence for the existence of such a gate. It is yet another example of people trying to make Christ’s words fit their own concepts of what He meant. Jesus can’t mean that the rich man can only attain salvation through humility – getting a camel to stoop and squeeze through a narrow gate might be challenging, but it doesn’t require divine intervention. His point is unmistakable: Obtaining your own salvation is just as impossible as threading a camel through the eye of a sewing needle. Apart from the intervention of the Lord, it cannot be done.
As an aside this applies to those who are considered to be poor in this world too. Are the poor somehow better than those who have more than they do? It would be just as dangerous for an underprivileged person to think that he had it made—that his poverty somehow gave him a free ticket into heaven as it would for a rich man to trust in his wealth to get him there. A legitimate argument can be made that the rich have an overabundance of temptations because of their wealth, power, and fame, but don’t be deceived the poor can be tempted from the path of righteousness by alcohol, sex, drugs, food, television, crime, or any number of things available to us in this world.
It is easy for us to look at the wealthy and judge them to be unfit for God’s Kingdom, congratulating ourselves in the process for not having that particular distraction in our lives. Christ is instructing us that, through our own efforts, no one can be saved. No one can be saved through his money, his skills, his talents, his intellect, or his good looks, or anything else! We do not achieve salvation through our own efforts; it is from God alone, by His grace.
Matt. 19;26
“With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”