Eternal life, a camel and the eye of a needle

October 13, 2024
Eternal life, a camel and the eye of a needle

Scripture Reading:  Mark 10: 17 - 31 (NIV)

As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 19You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’”

20“Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”

21Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

22At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

23Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”

24The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25It 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.”

26The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”

27Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

28Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!”

Message:  Eternal life, a camel and the eye of a needle

Eternal life 

A man fell down on his knees before Jesus with the burning question:  “what must I do to inherit eternal life?

It is a loaded question - “What must I do?”… “to get access to eternal life?”

Lets not make the mistake of brushing past this question too quickly

For I believe we carry questions about eternal life within us - questions that would have loved to have the opportunity to fall down on our knees before Jesus and ask Him…

Because we have a sense that only He can answer them

Questions that stem from an inherit awareness that there is more to life than just our daily existence 

Questions that stem from our need to have clarity, but we continue to see the murky image in the mirror when we think about eternal life

Questions like:

What will happen to me when I die?  Would I go to heaven or hell?

What would heaven look like?  What would hell look like?

Will I see my loved ones again that passed before me?  And what will it be like to see them again?

What is my connection to the spiritual world today?  Am I missing the signs of a  spiritual world in my life?

What can I do to tune in more to the spiritual side of life?

And circling around to the question of a man on his knees before Jesus… what can I do to inherit eternal life?

The camel and the eye of a needle

In his interaction with this man, Jesus is trying to bring across an understanding of how much we need God when we enter the spiritual realm

This interaction starts with Jesus saying to the man - “don’t call me GOOG teacher” - for only God is good!

This is the first clue to what Jesus is trying to bring across about eternal life

All that is good comes from God - only from God

Then Jesus asks him about he law… 

He is basically trying to illustrate his point, but the man interrupts Jesus by saying:  “all these I have kept since I was a boy

And in a very loving way, Jesus says to him:  “do you think you’ve done it all?  You have not yet sold all you have and gave it to the poor!  Do that and you will have a treasure in heaven (or a ticket to heaven), and then, after you have done that, give up your life and come and follow me - devote your life to me…”

This was not what this man wanted to hear - he was shocked and left the conversation deeply depressed, for he knew that would never be able to do all that because he was a wealthy man

Jesus then turned to everyone around, saying:  “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!

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.

Now let’s pause here for a moment - most of us have heard this one before, haven’t we?

A camel, thought the eye of a needle? - impossible! And that is exactly the point!

But when we hear this, we think “that serves you right all you rich people” (thinking Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos…)

That brings me to the question:  Who is the rich?

When you consider this, I want to ask you - have you ever seen poverty?  

Have seen people live in one place on a street corner for 30 years - working, eating and sleeping in the same place?  Have you seen real hunger?  Have you seen what it looks like when there is no way to earn a living?

I have not seen poverty in Canada!  Yet some would consider themselves as not being rich

I am merely trying to make the point that the term “rich” is a very relative term - for the sake of this conversation we can all count ourselves among the rich

And yes, for me and you it would be harder to enter the kingdom of God than it would be for a camel pass through the eye of a needle!  Impossible!

The disciples understood something of the point Jesus was making and asked:  “Who then can be saved?

Reason for thanksgiving

Jesus brought home the point:  “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.

Do not trust in you own abilities to earn you place in the kingdom of God!

Do not think that you have arrived!

Do not think that you are better than others!

Because if you do, somewhere down the line the anxiety of not doing enough will catch up with you!

And then you will either become depressed or you will go back try even harder… 

But with man it is impossible!

Your trust should go to God!  

With Him there is eternal life!

In this life, living all the questions about eternity, we can look into the murky image in the mirror and trust that God will one day show us the whole picture, crystal clear

And that trusting in Him now, while we don’t see it all, is enough - because we know that our trust is in the eternal God - the eternal God that loves us deeply

That is what we can be thankful for on thanksgiving tomorrow - an eternal God that includes us in his unconditional love, despite us falling short in so many ways!

So let us give thanks to God for eternal life!


Comments

Add your comment
Please enter your name.
Please enter a longer comment.