A Camel through the Eye of the Needle
Matthew 19:
20 The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?
21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.
22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
23 ¶ Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.
24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
For many years the religion teacher orthodoxy was that this referred to some gate called the needle where a camel had to stoop to get through. Pious moral lesson: be humble.
Now the new religion teacher orthodoxy is that the needle gate story is a fiction.
Who cares? I spit me of all such orthodoxies. If the needle gate is wisdom to you, keep on believing it.
But for this post, I am going to take the tack that Christ said it was basically impossible for rich people to enter heaven. What could that mean? My analytical mind speculates that rich people have reached a local optimum (they are, after all, doing pretty well–they’re rich) and thus have trouble reaching the actual optimum.
But the part of my mind that feels like lightning has a different idea. It comes from reading the next few verses.
When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?
26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
Our assumption is that rich people are generally decadent sons of belial. Put that assumption aside. What if you assumed the opposite, that rich people were often kinder, more faithful, etc.? Within our church and within other churches there is some evidence for that. Think Tevye longing to be rich so he could study Torah all day long. In ancient Israel, it was probably true that the rich could more likely afford the education to follow all the points of the law and could more likely afford to actually follow them. Given that, and then given the prevalent notion that riches were a blessing for righteousness, what Christ is doing here is telling them that even the people the disciples think are the most righteous cannot at all.
What if Christ appeared to you and said, “it would be easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than for President Nelson to go to heaven,” and you are sitting their stunned. Open-mouthed. He’s a spiritual giant, if there’s no hope for him, then there’s no hope for you. And you whimper, “then no one can go to heaven…”
Christ replies, “with men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.”
It is easier for a camel to crawl through the eye of a needle than it is for you (on your own) to get to heaven. Still, you are getting to heaven.
It would take a miracle. Luckily miracles are in rich supply.
E.C.
May 11, 2023
The scripture that comes to mind is, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.”
My sense is that you’re right, and that no one can thread that needle without a miracle – even the most righteous. But the poor in spirit, the humble who want to do God’s will and who quickly repent, are the most likely to receive such a miracle.
Deevs
May 16, 2023
I push back on the needle being a gate idea because I think it undercuts verse 26. At least it does according to the version of the gate story I heard, which was that the camels had to get on their knees to get through the gate. I think that’s a problem because that’s difficult but not impossible. Frankly, you don’t need God for the gate. You do need God for the eye of a needle.
I don’t disagree people can find wisdom in the gate version, but I think there’s more wisdom in the literal eye of the needle version. So, I’ll probably be a didactic doofus when the gate interpretation is brought up but strive not to be a jerk about it.
Sute
May 16, 2023
I like to point out when people like to add things to the scriptures like this bending the knee story, is, “that’s not what the verse says.”
There is often very little reading about Jesus in the scriptures but reading Jesus through the perspective of what someone else has said to him.
I see Jesus telling his disciples who gave up all to follow him, time and time again, that they have “little faith”; meanwhile, some random desperate people show up and he heals them and immediately tells them they have great faith when they seem to have pretty much taken no thought other than to ask (or come, or touch, or tear up a roof).
Now I’m not saying that we need to disparage the any of these individuals, but what I read in Jesus is…. hard things. A stumbling block. And infinite compassion and mercy and the ideal we all should follow.
Let’s take the statement in these verses even further at face value. Poor people are willing to give up everything to follow Christ, but rich people aren’t. So his kingdom pretty much precludes the possibility of having not only rich people but those with possessions.
We like to interpret around this all over the place to make even middle class or property-possessing-poor feel good about clinging to everything from their guns or their Teslas. But the reality is, Jesus said to this guy, sell it all, and come follow me and join in with my disciples.
We can stick it to the rich all we want — if you haven’t done what he said — well, you’re just like the rich man aren’t you? Aren’t we?
Fortunately, the high standard he sets is redeemable through his blood. With God all things are possible. But let’s not point fingers at the rich guys and chuckle how hard it is for them to give up their wealth.
Hah, you first.