and again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to enter a needle's eye than a rich man into the kingdom of God.
Jesus has just watched a wealthy young man walk away sad. Now He gives His disciples a picture that stuns them: the largest animal they knew, set against the smallest opening they could imagine. Is this merely hard, or impossible? And who counts as "rich"?
Impossible, Not Merely Difficult
Many soften this saying by making the "eye of a needle" a low city gate. A camel could squeeze through it once unloaded. Commentators reject that reading on the Lord's own grounds. He calls it impossible for man.
To the amazement of His disciples, He says it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. Some want to make this less absolute than it sounds, so they apply it to an eastern city gate. They should remember that the Lord states plainly that what He is speaking of is impossible for man. Mark records the explanation that a rich man here stands for one who trusts in riches. That guards us from a crude literalism, and it stretches the warning to those who own almost nothing. Really, the only man who is "rich" in the sense meant is the man who trusts in riches — and a man can do that who never gets them.
after_note: DELETE not intended
Another writer adds that no historical record supports the gate story.
Some find it attractive to say that the camel and the needle's eye point to a small gate that a camel could only pass through once it was unloaded. But no reliable historian supports this idea.
The Reach of the Warning
If the barrier is trust rather than a bank balance, then no one escapes the verse by being poor. The man who only wishes he were rich needs the same work of God.
The danger of having riches is that it becomes far too easy for us to trust them. We should remember that God is the Creator, and we should honour His rights as Creator over whatever possessions He entrusts to us... So it takes an entirely divine work of grace to bring a rich man into the kingdom of God. But poor men who want to be rich need the same sovereign work of God in their hearts (1 Tim. 6:9). In fact everyone needs it, for it is a universal disease to prefer something else to a path of faith.
Wealth is not the only tie of this kind. Another writer names the rest of them, and admits how seldom they break.
These things — riches, family, power — are claims which bind the soul to this world. Grace can indeed break these chains, but it does not often happen... These chains are too strong. But with God all things are possible.
Why the Disciples Were Shocked
Their amazement makes sense only against what they had been taught. Under the law God promised increase to those who obeyed, so wealth looked like proof of a good record with God.
The disciples were amazed because under law God had promised great increase to those who obeyed it. People too often treated riches as a sign that their owner must be keeping the law. This was by no means always true, for in fact all were guilty of breaking the law. But if a man's riches only strengthened his claim to be keeping the law, then his riches kept him from seeing any need of the grace of God.
Why "Kingdom of God" Here
Matthew almost always writes "kingdom of heaven"; verse 23 does. Verse 24 switches to "kingdom of God." Matthew's few uses of that term all press the inward, moral side of things.
Only Matthew's Gospel uses the term "Kingdom of Heaven." In fact that Gospel uses "Kingdom of God" in just four passages, and each one stresses the moral or inward side... This statement speaks of the close way in which the power of God works. The Jews had been taught to believe that riches were a mark of God's favour. That idea had to be pulled out of men's minds.
The Way Through
The impossibility clears the ground for grace. The rich man's problem is that he wants to bring himself in too.
If it is a question of man doing anything to get into the kingdom, riches are only a hindrance. He would like to take them with him, along with anything else that makes something of himself. But everything that belongs to man only blocks his way into the kingdom. More than that, it makes entry impossible, as far as he himself is concerned. With God, however, all things are possible, and man reaches the kingdom only by the working of His grace.
Summary
- Impossible. The picture is not an exaggeration and not a narrow gate — the Lord Himself calls it impossible for man.
- Trust. "Rich" means one who trusts in riches, so the warning reaches the man who never owns them.
- Chains. Riches, family and power all bind the soul to this world; grace can break them, but it does not often happen.
- Shock. The disciples assumed wealth proved obedience to the law. That is why riches hide a man's need of grace.
- Grace. What man cannot do, God does — entry comes only by His working, never by anything a person carries in with him.