A certain ruler asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honor your father and mother.” ’ He replied, ‘I have kept all these since my youth.’ When Jesus heard this, he said to him, ‘There is still one thing lacking. Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ But when he heard this, he became sad; for he was very rich. Jesus looked at him and said, ‘How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.’ Those who heard it said, ‘Then who can be saved?’ He replied, ‘What is impossible for mortals is possible for God.’ Then Peter said, ‘Look, we have left our homes and followed you.’ And he said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not get back very much more in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.’ (Luke 18:18-30, NRSV)
We get hung up on this…
I mean it is not hard to see why, can a camel really go through the eye of a needle?
And if a camel can’t then it is truly impossible for a rich person to get into the kingdom. And the news flash for all of us in the 1st world countries, we are rich whether we think we are or not!
So we will not make it.
So in order to get around this we all have to give up all of our belongings and follow Jesus right?
This reading does not say that! Jesus told this ruler to follow the commandments, and when he claimed to have done that, Jesus told him, and only him, to go and sell everything and come back to follow Him. You see for this man, his wealth was his god.
So what is your god that you need to give up and lay at Jesus’ feet so you can truly follow Him?
You see we are not able to do many things on our own, but with God all things are possible!
So figure out what your god is and give it up, and watch that eye on the needle blow up!
aSacredRebel 