The disciples would have found our Lord’s words particularly difficult to comprehend.  Being rich was seen to be a sign of blessing, especially in the case of someone who had kept God’s commandments and lived a virtuous life.  To say that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom would have left the disciples deeply perplexed.  And so, they ask, “Who then can be saved?”

Since the ninth century, commentators have suggested that our Lord was referring to a gate in Jerusalem called “the needles eye” which was so low that a camel could not pass through without kneeling and being unencumbered with baggage.  This is a popular explanation for the verse.  The problem with this interpretation is that it dates back no further than the ninth century and there is really no conclusive evidence that such a gate actually existed.  Still, it’s a lovely and edifying thought.  All of us must accept salvation kneeling, which is to say, humbly.  Salvation is a gift received and not a right we earn.  Also, we must be willing to shed our baggage and enter Heaven on God’s terms and not our own.  In the Babylonian Talmud, which is a collection of commentary by various Rabbis on the Bible, there is a verse which refers to how dreams do not always show us things which are impossible.  It says, that dreams “do not show a man a palm tree of gold, or an elephant passing through the eye of a needle.”  It is possible that our Lord had this verse in mind.  In any event, how are we to understand what our Lord said?

A little later in the chapter, Jesus tells the disciples: If your hand offends you, cut it off.  It is better to enter Heaven maimed than to go to hell with two hands.  If your eye offends you, pluck it out.  It is better to enter Heaven blind than to go to hell with twenty-twenty vision.  Do you suppose our Lord was literally telling people to cut their hands off and to pluck out their eyes?  This verse makes little sense when interpreted literally.  After all, if you’re a thief, cutting your hand off will not make you less of a thief.  It will only make you a one handed thief.  Plucking out an eye is no cure for lust.  We do not lust because of what we see, but because of what we choose to focus upon and think about.  What our Lord is saying is that the Kingdom of Heaven must come first.  God’s Kingdom – God’s will – is the most important and primary object of our desire.  We must be willing to sacrifice all things which encumber us.  We must be willing to let go of all the control we think we have over our own lives.  We must first seek God’s kingdom and God’s will and place everything else, ourselves, our possessions, our priorities, and our plans, in relation to God’s rule in our lives.  This is in essence what Jesus is saying to the rich man in today’s lesson.

At various times in the Gospels we are told that Jesus knew the thoughts which His listeners had but were not expressing.  It is quite likely that this was also the case with the rich man in today’s reading.  This was a man who had obeyed the law all of his life.  He was a man in charge of great wealth.  He was a man use to being in control, not only of others, but of himself as well.  Perhaps Jesus knew that letting go of all that he had was the one thing this man had to learn to do.  Maybe he had to learn to relinquish control.  Otherwise, how would he ever truly be able to bear his cross?  How would he learn to see Jesus in the faces of the most lowly and powerless?  This man was in some respects the very model of everything which could be achieved by human virtue.  He had it all: wealth, success, respect, and a morally upright life.  He was much like Job, that Old Testament hero lost everything.  And yet, salvation is not something to be obtained by human effort.  We do not earn peace with God.  Heaven is not claimed as a prize for doing everything right.  The eternal life which the man sought was not something he could deserve because of his own virtues.  It is, and always shall be, a gift which we must humbly receive with hands empty and arms open and a heart fixed upon the loving will of God.  Perhaps that is the lesson this man had to learn.  In fact, I’m sure it is a lesson we all have to learn.

We are told that before Jesus said these things to the rich man, He looked upon him and loved him.  Jesus spoke the truth in love.  Jesus said these hard things out of love, and that is something we must all remember.  The Lord chastens those He loves.  The fiery furnace, “the fire and brimstone”, which burns away all our faults and defects, is nothing less than the love of God.