But when Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful, he said, How difficultly shall those who have riches enter into the kingdom of God;
A rich ruler had just walked away from Jesus, unwilling to give up his wealth. The Lord's comment on that moment shocked everyone listening, and it raises two questions: why should wealth block the door, and who then can be saved?
These words are not an abstract saying about money. They are the Lord's reading of the scene He has just watched, spoken while He was still looking at the man.
The matter was not to end there. The Master noticed the effect on the ruler, and He would draw a lesson from it for disciples then, and for later years.
The problem is not the money itself but what money does to the heart that holds it.
A rich man enters the kingdom of God with great difficulty. It is so hard to have riches without the heart becoming absorbed by them, so that they crowd God out. ... No one can earn the kingdom, much less eternal life. Everything must come as a gift from God.
That means nobody escapes this warning by having an empty bank account. The Lord's word reaches further than the wealthy.
Mark records the explanation for us: a rich man here means one who trusts in riches. That guards against the obvious mistake of taking the word too literally, and it extends the principle to the poorest in actual possessions. In the sense meant here, the only rich man is the one who trusts in riches — and a person can do that who never gets them.
To the crowd around Jesus, this sounded backwards. People took wealth as proof that God was pleased with you.
His words astonished His hearers. In Israel people counted riches a sign of God's favour, but such favour can easily turn into an occasion for self-satisfaction. Riches are not a sign of God's favour today.
A second reason lay in how worship worked in Israel.
We shall better understand the astonishment of the disciples if we remember that sacrifices on God's altar were an essential part of Jewish religion. The rich could surpass the poor in the number and size of those sacrifices. So wealth might look like an advantage, for the rich could both offer more and give larger gifts to the poor.
Press the word "hard" far enough and it becomes something else. The disciples asked who could be saved, and the answer moved the whole question off human ground.
It is all but impossible — it is impossible, as far as man is concerned — for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. "And who can be saved?" is the remark of those who heard a sentence so contrary to their secret desires. Jesus replied, "What is impossible with man is possible with God." There is no other hope of salvation. It is of God, not of man. Yet to save cost God everything, yes, His own Son.
The difficulty does not stop at conversion. Wealth keeps pulling at a Christian's daily choices too. The same grace meets both cases.
It may be difficult for the wealthy to accept the gospel of salvation. It is still harder for such people, once they are Christians, to shape their conduct by the principles of the kingdom. But heavenly grace is enough for the one situation as for the other.
The Lord offered the ruler an exchange, not just a loss. Luke's next chapter shows a rich man who took it.
The Lord offered him treasure in heaven right now, and also a path of reproach in following Him. It was a treasure he had at once, but it was kept in heaven, where he could not lose it. The riches that held his heart and kept him from the Lord would soon be gone forever. In Luke 19, in Zacchaeus, we see another rich man who obtained treasure in heaven.
- Occasion — The saying is the Lord's comment on a man He has just watched walk away, spoken as He looked at him.
- Cause — Riches take up the heart. It is hard to hold them without them filling the place God should have, and the real danger is trusting them, not just owning them.
- Reach — The warning lands on the poorest too, since a person can trust in riches he never gets.
- Impossibility — Pushed to its end, "hard" becomes impossible for man. So salvation must come as God's gift — and it cost Him His own Son.
- Exchange — What you give up is not lost. It moves to heaven, where no one can take it away.
for it is easier for a camel to enter through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
The rich ruler has just walked away sad, and the Lord turns to His disciples with a picture so extreme that people have tried to soften it ever since. Is this only a hard saying about money, or does it place God's kingdom beyond human reach?
A popular explanation says the "needle's eye" was a low gate in a city wall. A camel could squeeze through it on its knees. Commentators reject that reading on the Lord's own grounds. He calls it impossible, not just difficult.
Some have tried to take "the eye of a needle" as a small side gate, through which a camel can pass, but only with great difficulty. But the Lord speaks of it as something "impossible" except to God. Doubtless a common needle was meant. The rabbis had a similar proverb about the elephant. Needles have been found in Egyptian tombs, made of bronze and about three inches long.
This is not simply a matter of difficulty. The Lord puts the case outside nature altogether, and the disciples heard how far that went.
It is beyond nature either for a camel to go through a needle's eye, or a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. "When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, 'Who then can be saved?'" The Lord's answer is perfect: "Jesus looked at them and said, 'With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.'" As far as man was concerned, it was impossible. That is a deeply solemn truth about his condition.
The word "rich" could let most readers off the hook. Mark's Gospel supplies the definition, and it has nothing to do with the size of a bank balance.
On the other hand, Mark records for us the explanation that a rich man stands here for one who trusts in riches. That prevents the obvious mistake of a crude literalism, and it extends the principle to the poorest in actual possessions. Only the man who trusts in riches is "rich" in the sense intended — and a man may do that who never acquires them.
Their reaction — "Then who can be saved?" — sounds strange. It makes sense once you know what wealth meant in Israel's worship.
We will understand the disciples' astonishment better if we remember one thing. Sacrifices on God's altar were an essential part of Jewish religion. In the number and size of those, the rich could surpass the poor. So wealth might seem to give an advantage, since the rich could both offer more and, of course, give larger alms. How true it is, even though it was said about something else: "Man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart." The state of a man's heart hinders his entering the kingdom.
One command — sell everything — landed on the ruler with full force. It did not add a new duty so much as uncover something already in him.
To the ruler it was overwhelming, impossible, the destruction of everything he valued. Now it was clear that he loved his riches, his money, his mammon — something he had never suspected in himself before. But it had been there all along. It was uncovered in His presence and by Him — by the One who, though He was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, so that we through His poverty might become rich.
The verse is not meant to leave anyone in despair. If salvation is out of man's hands, the one question left is what God will do.
Here is a bright and glorious flashing out of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. His words are a blessed indication of what His loving heart knew so well — that salvation is of God. With men salvation is impossible, and getting into the kingdom of God an impossibility; but God, in His marvellous grace in Christ Jesus, has made it possible. The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
For anyone who does own property, the warning ends on a positive note: "Happy is the man who by grace uses his wealth only for Christ's service, looking to have the true riches as his own in everlasting glory!" (William Kelly).
- Impossible. The needle is a sewing needle, not a gate. The Lord's own follow-up — impossible with men — rules out every softened reading.
- Impossible for whom. "Rich" means the man who trusts in riches, which can include someone who never owns any.
- Impossible even for the favoured. The disciples assumed wealth was an advantage before God, since the rich could offer more. Riches change nothing, because God looks at the heart.
- Impossible, and now proved. The ruler learned he loved his money only when Christ asked for it. The demand exposed a hold on his heart he never knew was there.
- Possible with God. What man cannot do, grace does. The impossibility is not the end of the story. It is the doorway to it. Salvation is of God, and the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus.