Some Key Words (12/17/09-12/18/09)

Hard (duskoloos [1423]):

| from duskolos [1422]: from dus- [1418]: hard, with difficulty, and kolon: food; peevish or fastidious about eating. Impracticably. | with difficulty.

Rich man (plousios [4145] or plousios [4146]):

/ | from ploutos [41949]: from pleo: to fill; wealth, fullness, possessions, abundance, richness. Wealthy, abounding with. / from plousios [4145]: copiously. | wealthy, abundantly supplied. A rich man. / abundantly, richly.

Needle (raphidos [4476]):

| from rhapto: to sew. A needle. |

Wealthy (chreemata [5536]):

Something useful: riches or wealth. | useful, needed. Wealth. | a thing, event or business. Money.

Children (tekna [5043]):

child, as being begotten or born. | from teko: to produce from seed. A child. | offspring, children.

Needle (raphidos [4476] or belone [955a]):

/| see above / a sewing needle. | see above / the point of a spear. A needle.

Paraphrase: (12/18/09)

Mt 19:23-24, Mk 10:23-15, Lk 18:24-25 Jesus said, “I tell you, it will be hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of God.” The disciples were stunned at this, but Jesus repeated, “It is hard, children, to enter the kingdom of God. It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

Key Verse: (12/18/09)

Mk 10:24 – Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!

Thematic Relevance: (12/18/09)	The good news is not necessarily news of ease.
Doctrinal Relevance: (12/18/09)	Reliance on money runs counter to reliance on God.
Moral Relevance: (12/18/09)	It’s hard enough to enter heaven. The distraction of abundance in this life only makes it harder. Yet, it is surely just as impossible for man in his own power to enter the kingdom even without the issue of riches.
Doxology: (12/18/09)	It’s hard, but not impossible. God has not declared any pre-existing condition to be a barrier to entry into His kingdom, except that all of us suffer the pre-existing condition of sin. Rich or poor, elite or plebian, whatever station of life we have known, it doesn’t change that simple fact. We all need the redemptive grace of Jesus to enter heaven, and He has generously provided that grace.

Symbols: (12/18/09)

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People Mentioned: (12/18/09)

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You Were There (12/18/09)

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Some Parallel Verses (12/18/09)

Mt 19:23

Mt 13:22 – The thorny soil represents the one who hears the word, but becomes unfruitful because he is distracted by the worries of this life, by deceitful riches. 1Co 1:26 – Consider that very few of you were wise or mighty or noble, yet you were called.

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Mt 12:28 – If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is upon you even now.

Mk 10:23

Mk 3:5 – Looking around, He was grieved by their heartlessness. He told the man to stretch out his hand, and that man having done so, his hand was restored.

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Mk 1:27 – All were amazed, and they debated as to how it could be that He taught with such authority that even unclean spirits obeyed His commands. Mk 2:5 – Seeing their faith, He told the paralytic, “My son, your sins are forgiven.” Jn 13:33 – Children, I am with you but a short while longer. You will seek Me, but as I said to the others I say to you: where I am going, you cannot come. Jn 21:5 – Children, you don’t have any fish, do you? Job 31:24-28 – If I have put my confidence in gold, and trusted in that; if I have gloated in my wealth and taken the credit for it; if I have considered the splendor of sun or moon and been enticed by these, that would be a sin worthy of judgment, for I would have denied God by these things. Ps 49:5-6 – Why should I fear when adversity comes, when the sins of my foes – even those who trust in their wealth and boast of their riches – surrounds me? Ps 52:7 – See that one who would not make God his refuge. Instead he trusted in his riches, and found strength in his desires. Pr 11:28 – He who trusts in his riches will fall. But the righteous will flourish. 1Ti 6:17 – Instruct the rich to avoid conceit, not to set their hope on anything so uncertain as riches. Rather, teach them to set their hope on God who richly supplies us with all things enjoyable.

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Lk 18:24
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New Thoughts (12/19/09)

I have often heard this passage taught with the needle’s eye explained as a reference to a certain narrow gate in Jerusalem’s walls. Thus, the message is explained as describing something difficult but not outright impossible. However, the editors of the NET apparently heard the same teaching, and refute it quite simply: Said gate did not come into existence until the Middle Ages. It would be exceeding odd, then, for Jesus to be referring to it!

That being out of the way, it remains significant that Jesus does not say that the case is impossible, only hard. If I accept Peter’s memories as we have them expressed by Mark, then Jesus, in explaining Himself to the disciples, actually broadens the issue. It’s not just hard for the rich, it’s hard for anybody. The rich do, however, wind up having this extra burden in that they are more able to delude themselves into thinking the case is otherwise.

Now, the amazement of the disciples at hearing that the rich don’t have some sort of edge on heavenly citizenship lies in a great misconception, and one that can hardly be supported by Scripture. You see, they have come to associate heavenly blessing and wealth as being necessarily linked one to another. To be rich is to be blessed. That is the way they see it. That is the way the world sees it. That is the way entirely too many churches preach it today. This is not the case. Neither can we make the case that to be rich is to be opposed to God. Riches and blessing are simply disconnected topics.

We might make the same statement with regards to health, I should think. It is all well and good to be blessed with good health, and who could complain if this is their lot? But, to suppose that the absence of good health is necessarily the absence of blessing? That conception of things simply cannot stand. I know I’ve said it before, and I shall doubtless say it again, but in that we preach a message that insists that God wants you healthy and / or wealthy, and that any opposition to your health and / or wealth must be an attack of Satan, or the result of sin, flies in the face of the Gospel message. The Gospel message says pretty clearly, “In this life you will have troubles.” It is spoken with absolute certainty. It shall come to pass. Don’t think to avoid it, because you won’t. If you are avoiding it, it is only because you are avoiding God. Honestly. That’s the real message. You will have trials. You will suffer persecutions. You will be pressed on every side. But, rejoice! I have overcome the world!

The primary point in this passage is to break through this conception that wealth is an automatic sing of blessing. Jesus didn’t see it that way. He didn’t see it that way because God doesn’t see it that way. Indeed, if one will look at the Old Testament record as more than ancient history, he must see that God has always said it was not that way. Consider the warnings He delivered to Israel as they were coming into the land of promise. You will have fine vineyards, fruitful trees, nice houses. All will be abundance for you. But, when this is the way of it, you will forget Me. Watch out! Realize the danger. This is not, I must stress, an argument for poverty. He does not insist that they avoid any and all ease in life. He does not instruct them to reject every good thing that the world might offer. He does not set out some sort of Manichean dichotomy of ‘flesh bad, spirit good’. He simply says, hey! When I bless you with the good things of life, don’t let it distract you from what really counts. Enjoy, but don’t become subservient to it.

It is in this light that the reference to Job struck me. “If I have put my confidence in gold and trusted in that, I have denied God. If I have gloated in my wealth, and taken the credit for establishing that wealth, I have denied God. These are sins worthy of judgment” (Job 31:24-28). It is not the wealth that is evil. It is the attitude one takes towards it. It is in us to act this way, and we really must remain cognizant of that sad truth. We love to crow about our achievements. “Look what I have done! See how I have provided! My, what a good husband and father and wage-earner am I!” But, God says, “I AM your Provider. Whatever good things you have, whatever abundance you enjoy, it is because I AM has given these things to you.” Don’t forget! Don’t become the slave of your wealth. Don’t become so used to the ‘good life’ that you cannot let go of it when the King of heaven requires it of you. What use is wealth and ease in this life if it is only fueling a perpetuity of torment in the next? Don’t disdain the gifts God may choose to give you, but don’t cling to them, either.

So, we have Jesus here saying, “It’s more reasonable to expect a camel to walk through the eye of a needle then to expect a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Alright, let’s recognize this: He has described what is clearly impossible. He’s not using that absolute negative phrasing in making His case, but His example says it for Him. He’s not just saying it will be really, really hard, and that rich man is going to have to be extra diligent in order to make it. He’s saying that the rich man isn’t going to make it. Not without miraculous intervention.

It is at this point that I think we absolutely must hear the added note from Mark: It’s not just the rich. It’s everybody! Our eyes happen to be drawn to the rich, because we suppose it’s simply got to be easier for them. Surely, that wealth signifies something. Surely, if God were not smiling upon them, they would not have it so good. But, Jesus breaks that off. It’s no guarantee of blessing to be rich, any more than it’s a guarantee of blessing to be poor. Stop associating the two. The real issue is that we all have those things we don’t want to let go of. It may simply be physical life itself. The fact is, though, that we are indeed the idol factories that reformers of old recognized us to be. It may not be riches, but choose your poison. There is something in each one of us which, were God to require us to set it aside, or give it to another, we would resist. It’s hard to enter the kingdom, to allow kingdom purposes to supersede our own good pleasure.

Indeed, it’s not hard. It’s impossible. This is the point Jesus has been driving home throughout His ministry. When He taught about the Law, He made sure that it was taught in such a fashion that men, if they were paying heed to His words, must recognize the impossibility of living up to the Law’s demands. This is the whole preaching of the Gospel! Until a man is brought to the point of acknowledging the impossibility of his position, he cannot lay hold of the good news. That impossibility is the good news! That’s going to strike the ears as a mighty strange thing to say, but it is.

We have such a warped concept of good. We see rich = good, poor = bad. God doesn’t. We see comfortable = good, uncomfortable = bad. God doesn’t. Listen! The Good News is that it’s impossible for you to make it in your own power. The good news is, “In this life you will have trouble.” The good news is that you must come to the end of yourself and find yourself bowed in desperation before the throne of God. The good news is that you must recognize that you are guilty and awaiting the death sentence that is your due. Only then can you come with earnestness and ask of God, “What must I do to be saved?”

And, what is God’s answer? The first half of that answer is the thing we most fear to hear: “There is nothing you can do. The situation is hopeless.” But, then, there is the gift of hope, “But, with Me all things are possible! Fear not, I have overcome the world. Fear not! I have paid your penalty, and your entry into My kingdom is assured. Come, enter into My rest, for My Righteous Son has done for you what you could not do. Behold! I make all things possible, even your salvation!”

I tell you, we do a great disservice to God and man when we try and speak only the second half of that ultimate good news. We are setting men up for destruction when we tell them it’s all smooth sailing from here on out. Just accept Jesus, and all your troubles will blow away. It simply is not accurate. Just accept Jesus and those who think they have the right of it will persecute you. Just accept Jesus and your life will be a series of trials. But, persevere! Persevere knowing that because He has overcome the world, your eternity is secure! The good news is not necessarily news of ease? No! The good news is news of impossibility. But, it’s impossibility surmounted by the only One Who can, the God of the Impossible!