Day of Praise

Thur, 02/09/17, "Day of Praise"

Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!"
The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, "Who then can be saved?"
Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God." - 

Mark 10:23-27

I have a question for all of you. Really. Why do you think the disciples were amazed at Jesus' words when he said, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!"?

Now, letting a few people that I heard talking recently represent all of you, I'll answer your question. What does Jesus mean when he says, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God"?

Well, in Jesus' day, cities were built with walls around them in order to better protect them from attack. Obviously, you needed a gate for citizens to get through the wall and into the city. However, the broader the gate was then the weaker the wall was. So they made the gate as narrow as possible. It was like "the eye of a needle."

The problem with a narrow gate (a needle eye), however, was the trouble that it created for the merchants, who brought their goods mostly by camel. The goods weren't piled high on the camel; instead the goods were strapped on the sides of the camel. Thus, the loaded camel was wider than "the eye of the needle." 

In order to bring their goods into the city, the merchant had to go to the time-consuming and very annoying trouble of unloading the camel, walking the camel through the gate, bringing in the goods, and then reloading the camel to get the goods to the right place within the city. 

The whole unloading/loading ordeal at the gate was further complicated by the fact that beggars knew that the gate was the best place to beg. The beggars knew that even the most hard-hearted merchant had a hard time not giving to the beggars when they could plainly see the quantities and values of their goods stacked on the ground right next to fellow human beings who had nothing. The merchant would always lose something during the unloading/loading ordeal--either a portion of their goods by virtue of giving something to the beggars or a portion of their soul by virtue of not giving something to the beggars. You can imagine all sorts of scenarios with that. 

Bottom line: it was easier for that unloaded camel to get through the eye of that needle-narrow gate than it was for the merchant to get through with all his goods. 

The lesson here can be stated in a couple ways. 

One, let go! You just flat-out can't let your heart get attached at all to your stuff because you ain't gonna be carrying a lick of it through the eye of the needle that is the gate to the kingdom of heaven. 

And two, examine your relationships! Do they match God's Word? Here's the Biblical matches in our relationships--trust God; love your neighbor; and manage your stuff. 

Any shift from the Biblical matching is absolutely disastrous, such as, manage God; trust your neighbor; and love your stuff. 

Only the Biblical matches make it possible for any of us to pass through the eye of the needle. We must trust God (not our stuff) to bring us to heaven. We must love our neighbor (not our stuff) to see the value of the people in front of us, begging for a little mercy, affirmation, and conversation. And we must manage our stuff so that God is glorified and people are blessed. 

Jesus said again, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, "Who then can be saved?"
Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God." - 

Mark 10:23-27

Praise God!