I don’t know how many of you have ever tried working a piece of thread through the eye of a needle. It requires a steady hand and a sharp eye, both of which are harder to come by the older you get. Passing thread through the eye of a needle might be difficult, but it’s still possible. But now imagine a camel trying to fit through such an opening. It’s impossible! Not only is it impossible, but imagine how silly such a thing would look. But Jesus uses this somewhat comical illustration to show just how impossible it is for us to try to squeeze our way into heaven. Of course, instead of using a camel He could have said, “It’s easier for a strand of rope to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” But by using a camel (which may have been the largest animal that the people in that region were familiar with) He makes the point that it’s not only impossible for us to save ourselves but also ludicrous for us to try. Getting a camel through the eye of a needle would be relatively easy in comparison to trying to getting ourselves into God’s kingdom.
But now Jesus says here that such a thing is impossible for rich people. Perhaps, then, there’s some wriggle room for the poor. If it’s money and possessions that keep us from entering into heaven, then maybe if we just divest ourselves of these things, as Jesus told the rich young man to do, we’ll be able to slip ourselves through the narrow gate of heaven just fine. If this were true, however, then nobody would need Jesus. We might thank Him for showing us the way, but that’s all. Entering in would be all up to us, which again would be easy for us to do, once we had unburdened ourselves of our riches. But the fact is, even if we were to sell all our possessions and give the money to the poor, we are all “rich” in our own eyes before God, because by nature we believe that we have what it takes to get into heaven all by ourselves. (By the way, if you were to sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor you’d actually be doing them a disservice, since Jesus says it’s difficult for the rich to enter into God’s kingdom!) But “rich” is a relative term. It has little to do with how much you possess. Rather, it’s an attitude you have, regardless of how much money might be in your bank account. You could having nothing in this world and yet still believe that you have the sufficient amount of means and ability to work your way into heaven. To have such an attitude is to be rich towards yourself, but not rich towards God. Even Christians struggle with this. We too struggle with Jesus’ words here that it’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God, because by nature even we believe that God should look upon us with favor and grant us access to His presence on account of our good behavior. According to our fallen nature, we all believe that we have in our possession enough good within ourselves to earn eternal life. Thus, we’re rich in our own eyes.
Even the disciples of Jesus themselves struggled with this same problem, as they were taken aback by this statement of their Lord. Upon hearing this they, too, suddenly recognized that they themselves had a rich attitude towards God, one in which they had been trusting in their own works and efforts to obtain the inheritance of eternal life. No wonder they exclaimed, “Then who can be saved?!” But that’s exactly what Jesus wanted them to say! That’s exactly where He wanted to take them. His words had done their work, stripping the disciples of their trust in themselves, their good works, and their wealth - all false gods. They had concluded exactly what He had intended them to conclude, and that is that we can’t get ourselves into heaven by our own works or false gods any more than a camel can go through the eye of a needle. If those things are what you’re trusting in, you’ll never enter into God’s kingdom. Jesus’ words will only lead you to the same desperate conclusion, “Then who can be saved?! Certainly not me, a sinner!”
But once Jesus has brought you to this realization, once He has caused you to despair of your own good works and taken away your false gods, then He gives you the Gospel. While the kingdom of God is impossible to enter by relying on your own efforts and idols, God makes it possible for you to enter through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. God has made a way to enter into heaven, but it’s a narrow way - through Jesus alone. He opened that way through His cross. On that cross Jesus experienced the exile from God’s presence and kingdom that you are subject to when you enter into this world. He became poor, becoming the sinner in your place, so that you might become truly rich before God, with His righteousness given to you at your Baptism. This was impossible for you to do for yourself. You could not pay for your own sins, let alone anyone else’s. But with His blood Jesus paid the full price required for your redemption. Priceless as it was, it alone was able to open the door to heaven and eternal life for you. And by raising Jesus from the dead God confirmed this, showing His acceptance of His Son’s payment of your debt.
Now the entrance to God’s kingdom is open and free for all to enter. It is barred to none. But in order to enter you must stop looking for other ways in. You must stop trusting in yourself and your own efforts. You must leave your false gods behind. You must confess yourself a poor sinner in need of God’s grace and enter through the only Door He’s provided for you into His kingdom - Jesus Christ. And once you’ve entered through this Door you, you can’t look behind you and say, “I chose to walk through the Door myself. It’s my faith that’s saved me.” No, even that load makes you too big to fit through the eye of this needle. Not even the faith to believe in Jesus Christ is possible for you; but it’s possible for God. Not only is salvation a free gift of God but so also is the faith by which we believe in Jesus our Savior. God is the one who both shows you the Door into His kingdom and also brings you through it.
Peter here is an example of one who thought that he had something to do with entering through this Door when he tried to draw Jesus’ attention to what he and the other disciples had done. He said, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” In other words, “Look, Lord, at what we have done! We’ve done just what you said.” Rather than give glory to God and what He had done, Peter gave the glory to himself and what he had done. What Peter said was true: he and the other disciples had left everything and followed Jesus, but only after Jesus had called them to Himself, only after God had moved them to follow Jesus by His Holy Spirit through His Word. That Peter and the disciples had left everything and followed Jesus was God’s work, not theirs.
Then Jesus tells them what they were going to receive for doing so. He says, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the Gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers [and notice here how fathers are missing, because we Christians all now have one Father] and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” The fact that Jesus adds the gift of persecutions among those things that Christians will receive for following Him shows that no one chooses to enter this Door themselves. The other things Jesus mentions sound fine, but not persecutions. To be a disciple of Jesus, however, entails denying yourself, picking up your cross, and following Him. That’s no fun. Sin is fun. By nature we want to carry our sins in with us into God’s kingdom. But Jesus requires us to leave them at the Door, at His cross. He requires that we die to ourselves and live for others. He requires that we who love to put ourselves first are to put ourselves last and make ourselves servants and slaves of all. He requires that we trust in Him alone for our salvation and that we keep His Word and do it. Such things are not only going to bring the cross and persecutions to Christians in this world, but they are repugnant to our sinful nature, making it impossible for us to choose such things for ourselves; rather we are chosen by God and given these things in Christ.
And so there is both despair and hope in these words of Jesus. The despair comes to those who believe it’s possible to enter into God’s kingdom by their own godly living, good behavior, false gods and religions. Such ways, according to Jesus, do not lead into God’s kingdom, but bar us from it. But the hope we are given is in the Door that God has provided for us - Jesus Christ. God has done what was impossible for us and made our way into heaven possible by sending His Son to shed His blood for our sins, so that we might no longer be separated from Him. You and I have entered through that Door by faith in Jesus Christ, having been brought to that faith by the work of the Holy Spirit through our Baptism and the Word. Through the same means along with the Lord’s Supper He continues to make that Way clear for us today, so that we might continue to walk through that Door repenting of our sins, turning from our idols, and trusting in Jesus alone for our salvation.
Jesus tells His disciples to “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” That gate is open again to you here today. It’s too narrow for you to enter on your own terms. But even camels can do the impossible when God has His way. Enter through that gate into God’s kingdom again today by the grace of God. Come through that gate to the Lord’s Table, where He feeds you on His body and blood, and receive anew the gift of life which He won for you with that body and blood and which the Father gives you freely for His sake. Amen.