If Jesus can rise from the dead, then a camel can go through the eye of needle, a rich man can find a place in the reign of God, you and I can be forgiven.
Sometimes Jesus’ teaching is challenging because it is unclear. In Luke 16:9, for instance, Jesus told His disciples, “Make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails, they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.” Huh? What does that mean? Or in Matthew 10:34, the Prince of Peace announced, “Do not think I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” Uh, come again? Or in Luke 14:26, He says, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.” Hate? Really?
Today’s text is not challenging because it is confusing. It is problematic because it is clear:
How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the Kingdom of God... It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God. (Mark 10:24-25)
No wonder the disciples were “amazed” (ἐθαμβοῦντο) and “exceedingly astonished” (περισσῶς ἐξεπλήσσοντο). The clear message from Jesus is that wealth and the reign of Jesus have a conflicted relationship.
Before we go any further, a few preliminary notes are in order. First, we should do away with the popular, nineteenth century legend that Jesus was referring to a small gate before which a camel had to be unloaded before it could pass through. There is no evidence such a gate ever existed, and the earliest mention of this idea seems to have come as late as the ninth century. But the bigger problem with this idea is how it completely undoes the point Jesus is making. As RT France puts it, “That which Jesus presented as ludicrously impossible is turned into a remote possibility.”[1]
Second, this text follows immediately upon the rich man choosing his possessions over Jesus. The disciples could still see his drooping shoulders fade away as Jesus began this lesson. This makes Jesus’ teaching a move from the specific to the general.
Third, the idea that wealth is an obstacle to being right with God, as opposed to a sign of one’s favor with God, is counterintuitive; especially if you believe God is the source of all good things. This is difficult for people of any generation to accept. Which is all to say, it is not surprising in the least that the disciples were amazed and exceedingly astonished.
This is difficult for people of any generation to accept. Which is all to say, it is not surprising in the least that the disciples were amazed and exceedingly astonished.
This leads us to a potential title for a sermon on the text. We can lean into Jesus’ clear, yet difficult words about wealth and call the sermon: “An Amazing, Exceedingly Astonishing Impossibility.”
A text like this could be especially timely as Americans are gearing up for the upcoming presidential election. Polls show the most important issue to most voters (again!) is the economy. As a culture we are intensely focused on making, keeping, and increasing wealth. There is a good reason for this, of course. Wealth can do so much good. It can help so many people. It can change so many lives. It can undo so much that is wrong, evil, and unjust. Which is why it can become such a snare. We are not tempted to love and trust things that do not deliver.
This text, on the heels of the reading about the rich man from last week, functions as a warning. The warning also comes out in the verses from Ecclesiastes 5:10, “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income.” Augustine put it like this:
“Such, O my soul, are the miseries that attend on riches. They are gained with toil and kept with fear. They enjoyed with danger and lost with grief. It is hard to be saved if we have them; and impossible if we love them; and scarcely can we have them, but we shall love them inordinately. Teach us, O Lord, this difficult lesson: to manage conscientiously the goods we possess, and not covetously desire more than you give to us.”[2]
It is not surprising, therefore, that the disciples despaired in verse 26: “Who then can be saved?” Jesus answered in truth in verse 27: “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”
Here is where the title of the sermon comes into play, and here is where the move is the Gospel could be made. The “amazing, exceedingly astonishing impossibility” of a rich man entering the Kingdom of God is not unlike the amazing, exceedingly astonishing impossibility of someone rising from the dead. This connection is more natural if you extend the reading to include three more verses (which are not included in next week’s Gospel reading). There, Mark tells us what happened next:
And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed [still!], and those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve again, He began to tell them what was to happen to Him, saying, ‘See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock Him and spit on Him and flog Him and kill Him. And after three days, He will rise.’ (Mark 10:32-34)
The disciples were still amazed by His words about wealth when Jesus switched topics to His upcoming death and resurrection. If we read them together, Jesus words about what is impossible with men reminds us that the disciples (and we) belong to a God who does what, for us, is impossible. If Jesus can rise from the dead, then a camel can go through the eye of needle, a rich man can find a place in the reign of God, you and I can be forgiven of such things as greed and a lack of generosity, and residents of one of the wealthiest nations on earth can begin to think rightly about the financial resources God has entrusted to them.
Unlike the rich man in the previous passage, this warning about wealth can lead your congregation to thinking about and using their wealth faithfully. For the hearers of means, this may involve you encouraging them to give more away. For those who have little, it may involve you helping them find contentment with the daily bread (and not much more) which God provides. For everyone, it would involve you inviting them to have less love for and trust in wealth, and more love for and trust in the God and Father of Jesus who raised Him from the dead. He promises to raise us, too; the amazing, exceedingly astonishing impossibility that it is.
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Additional Resources:
Craft of Preaching-Check out out 1517’s resources on Mark 10:23-31.
Concordia Theology-Various helps from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, MO to assist you in preaching Mark 10:23-31.
Text Week-A treasury of resources from various traditions to help you preach Mark 10:23-31.
Lectionary Kick-Start-Check out this fantastic podcast from Craft of Preaching authors Peter Nafzger and David Schmitt as they dig into the texts for this Sunday!
Lectionary Podcast-Dr. John Nordling of Concordia Theological Seminary in Ft. Wayne, IN walks us through Mark 10:23-31.
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[1] RT France, The New International Greek Testament Commentary. The Gospel of Mark. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing, 2014). 405
[2] Thomas C. Oden, ed. Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: New Testament II, Mark. (Downers Grove, IL; Intervarsity Press, 1998). 145
