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"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."
Imagine holding a needle between your thumb and forefinger. Now imagine a camel-a great, big, ornery camel-plodding its way in your direction. Don't get carried away. Just imagine a small camel. A small camel weighs something like 500 pounds.
It's a funny picture really. I mean, who's going to stand still long enough to find out if the camel can make it through the eye of the needle or not?
It's not so funny, though, if you are rich and you know you are rich.
This reality hit home for me one Sunday morning when I was in seminary. I was visiting a church near the seminary that I had never been to before. This church was in one of the wealthier areas of Atlanta. Most of the members of this church were pretty prosperous folks.
There was, of course, coffee after worship. So I got a cup, and a woman standing near the coffee pot struck up a conversation with me. We chatted for a few minutes in a friendly way-you know, a little about what part of town we lived in, a little about our families, a little about what we did for a living. She was a professional of some sort; I was a seminary student.
Then, out of the blue, this friendly, elegant, middle-aged Atlanta woman, said to me: "You know that passage in the Bible about a camel going through the eye of a needle? I read something about it in a book recently, and I wonder what you think about it."
The sermon that day was not on this passage. The rich young ruler was never mentioned during the worship service. Money was never mentioned. Giving was never mentioned. Stewardship was never mentioned. Wealth was never mentioned. I don't really remember what the sermon was about, but I remember it had nothing to do with this passage.
Apparently, though, this passage was on this woman's mind. She had read that there was a small gate in ancient Jerusalem that was known as the "eye of the needle." She had read that this gate was so low that camels could only enter on their knees. She had read that Jesus had this gate in mind when he said what he said about rich men entering the kingdom of God. She had read that it wasn't really impossible for a camel to go through the "eye of the needle", it was just hard.
"So," she asked me, "what do you think?"
I didn't say much. For one thing, I didn't really know what to say.
Since then I have learned that this particular story about some gate in ancient Jerusalem called "the eye of the needle" through which camels could enter only on their knees started circulating in certain circles of the church several hundred years ago. You might guess which circles that was-it wasn't the peasants who were looking for a way to soften Jesus' statement. The story is still circulating.
Don't buy it. The camel was the biggest animal in Palestine. To say that something was harder than a camel going through the eye of a needle was to say that it was impossible.
When Jesus said, "It is easer for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God," he meant what he said. That's why the disciples responded the way they did. They were amazed, and they asked Jesus, "Who then can be saved?" That's why Jesus responded the way he did. He answered them, "With man this is impossible, but not with God."
With man this is impossible. Not 'with man this is uncomfortable.' Not 'with man this is challenging.' Not 'with man this requires getting your knees dirty.'
With man this is impossible.
I don't know about you, but this makes me just a tad bit uncomfortable. I look at myself and the self-justifications start coming into my thoughts fast and furious. I'm not wealthy. I can barely keep up with the costs of maintaining a home and a car. I'm not wealthy. I used to make a lot of money, but not now. I'm not wealthy. There aren't any financial advisors knocking on my door to get my business. I'm not wealthy. I see people every day who have fancier cars and bigger houses and take wilder vacations. I'm not wealthy. I can read this passage and still breathe easy. It isn't about me. I'm not wealthy.
The Spirit doesn't let me get away with these self-justifications though. The Spirit makes me look farther out into the world and deeper inside myself. I am wealthy. I have a house. I have a car. I have health insurance. I have a pension plan. I have easy access to credit. I have. I have. I have. I have a lot more than I do not have. I have a lot more than most of the rest of the people in the world have.
I'm smaller than a camel. But I wouldn't fit through the eye of a needle. Even on my knees I wouldn't fit. Even if I gave away everything, I wouldn't fit. The story isn't so funny, when you are rich and you know it.
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.
With man this is impossible.
But not with God.
All things are possible with God.
It's probably a good thing that I didn't say much to the woman in that Atlanta church that day. I didn't understand it at the time, but later I realized that her conversation wasn't really with me anyway. Her conversation was with the Holy Spirit. My presence simply served as a spur for her to take notice of what the Holy Spirit was saying to her.
The Spirit had been talking to her about money. She wanted to justify herself. She wanted a way to read this passage and still breathe easy. When I look back on this conversation now, I am convinced that it was the Holy Spirit who nudged her to bring to mind the account of the man who encountered Jesus, but went away sad because he had great wealth.
I didn't know this woman. I didn't know anything about her financial situation. I didn't know anything about her spiritual situation.
But the Holy Spirit knew her. The Holy Spirit knew her well. He knew her financial situation. He knew her spiritual situation. He knew the longing in her heart for something more, something that really meant something. He knew she had given Jesus some of herself. I don't know how much. 50%? 75%? 90%? 99%? I don't know, but the Holy Spirit knew. There was something old she needed to let go, so that she could turn to something new in her walk with Jesus.
With man this is impossible. But not with God. All things are possible with God.
An interesting phenomenon occurred when I was in seminary. I was in the midst of transition…letting go of my old life and turning to a new life…and it seemed to spark thoughts in other people…thoughts about letting go of something old and turning to something new in their walk with Jesus. I didn't have to say anything about anything. I'd just mention, usually in response to a question, that I was in seminary, and incredibly frequently the conversation would pick up steam in a surprising new direction.
I was at a party-a reception, actually-in honor of one of my former environmental engineering professors. The crowd was full of scientists and engineers. Many of them were people of faith; many were not. A young man approached me. "I hear you are going to seminary," he said. Then, hardly waiting for my response, he told me that he didn't attend church much anymore, and for the next several minutes he explained to me-one by one, and in great detail-his reasons for not attending church much anymore. He was not antagonistic towards church or the faith. He was in college now, and nobody he knew went to church.
When I look back on this conversation now, I am convinced that it was the Holy Spirit who was nudging him. I didn't know this young man. But the Holy Spirit knew him. The Holy Spirit knew him well. He knew the longing in his heart for something more, something that really meant something. The Holy Spirit had something to say to this young man about walking in fellowship with other believers even if his friends might think he was weird. There was something old he needed to let go, so that he could turn to something new in his walk with Jesus.
With man this is impossible. But not with God. All things are possible with God.
I remember a conversation with one of my colleagues at work. He talked about his research for awhile, and he told me how much he enjoyed teaching. Then he told me that when he was still a student himself he had felt a burden on his heart to become a missionary and to carry the gospel to some distant land. He almost did it too. But he wanted his father to be proud of him, and he didn't want to waste his education, and he didn't want to appear irresponsible. So he didn't go.
When I look back on this conversation now, I am convinced that it was the Holy Spirit who was nudging my colleague. I didn't know him really well. But the Holy Spirit knew him. The Holy Spirit knew him well. He knew the longing in his heart for something more, something that really meant something. The Holy Spirit had something to say to this man about Christ's continuing claim on his life-perhaps as a missionary, perhaps in some other way. There was something old he needed to let go, so that he could turn to something new in his walk with Jesus.
With man this is impossible. But not with God. All things are possible with God.
In the waiting room of a doctor's office, while I was waiting for someone else, I found myself in conversation with a young woman. I never did hear why she was there to see the doctor, but she told me a lot about her boyfriend and her struggles to live as a Christian. She was a believer, she told me, but her boyfriend was not. Her boyfriend thought religion was a lot of nonsense and didn't want to have anything to do with church. She could live with that, she supposed, but he didn't want her to have anything to do with church either. She didn't want to turn her back on God. She didn't want to walk away from all the love and encouragement and sense of belonging that she got from church. She didn't want to lose her boyfriend either.
When I look back on this conversation now, I am convinced that it was the Holy Spirit who was nudging this young woman. I didn't know her. But the Holy Spirit knew her. The Holy Spirit knew her well. He knew the longing in her heart for something more, something that really meant something. The Holy Spirit had something to say to this young woman about the risks and burdens of being yoked with an unbeliever. There was something old she needed to let go, so that she could turn to something new in her walk with Jesus.
With man this is impossible. But not with God. All things are possible with God.
During a flight back to Atlanta from a conference in another city, the older gentleman in the seat next to me noticed a textbook in my hand-something about church history, I think. He declared to me, rather matter-of-factly, that he believed in Jesus. I asked him, "What does that mean to you-to believe in Jesus-what does that mean for your life?"
For the next twenty minutes or so, I just listened. He believed in Jesus, he told me, and so he was going to heaven. Other than that, it didn't really mean much of anything to him. He didn't go to church. He didn't read the Bible. He didn't pray. He didn't concern himself much with how believing in Jesus might impact what he chose to do or not do on any given day. He did what he wanted to when he wanted to. He shared with me a great variety of ways in which believing in Jesus had no impact whatsoever on his life. Actually, he told me, he hadn't even thought about Jesus in years-until he happened to see the book I was reading. But, he assured me again as his monologue came to a close, he believed in Jesus.
When I look back on this conversation now, I am convinced that it was the Holy Spirit who was nudging this elderly man. I didn't know him. But the Holy Spirit knew him. The Holy Spirit knew him well. He knew the longing in his heart for something more, something that really meant something. The Holy Spirit had something to say to this elderly man about the powerful connection between believing in Jesus and following Jesus. There was something old he needed to let go, so that he could turn to something new in his walk with Jesus.
With man this is impossible. But not with God. All things are possible with God.
I learned a lot through these conversations. I learned that there are a lot of people out there longing in their hearts for something more, something that really means something. I learned that the Holy Spirit knows people really well, better than they know themselves. I learned that I don't have to create opportunities to talk about Jesus, the Holy Spirit is already at work nudging people in the way they most need to be nudged. I learned that the Holy Spirit knows the questions that people need to ask and the answers they need to hear, and I don't necessarily need to know either. I learned that taking a new step in my walk with Jesus is always going to involve letting go of something old. I learned that even when this is impossible with man, it is not impossible with God, because all things are possible with God.
Has the Spirit been nudging you?
Is there something you are holding back?
Is there one area in your life where you keep trying to self-justify?
Are you longing in your heart for something more, something that really means something?
It's time to let it go.
It's time to take a new step in your walk with Jesus.
With man this is impossible.
But not with God.
All things are possible with God.
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