Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

In Mark 10 a rich man decided not to sell everything to follow Jesus. As the man walked away, Jesus said to the disciples, “It’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mark 10:25).  

Think about that. A camel going through the eye of a needle? A ridiculous image. Amazed, the disciples asked, “Then how can anyone be saved?” 

Jesus replied, “It’s impossible for people. Only God can do it” (Mark 10:27). 

Some interpreters explain Jesus’ camel-and-needle image by pointing to a Jerusalem city gate “The Eye of the Needle”. Camels could enter only if they were unloaded and knelt. 

Two problems with this explanation. First, there is no evidence that such a gate existed. 

And second, it changes what Jesus clearly said. He didn’t say, “It’s possible to enter the kingdom of heaven if you unburden yourself and kneel down.” 

He said, “It’s impossible. No one can engineer their own salvation. It’s just as  impossible as a camel becoming needle-small.” Jesus often taught by using impossible pictures and improbable situations. His idea of what is possible depends on God alone.  

Peter, as usual in Mark’s gospel, had something to say: “We’ve left everything to follow you” (Mark 10:28). 

The rich man didn’t leave everything. But Peter and his friends did. Was Peter implying, “We’re better than that rich man”? Was he saying, “Look, we’ve walked through the eye of the needle”? 

Jesus said to Peter, “Seen and noted. Anyone who has left home, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children, or fields for me and the gospel will be amply rewarded; and they will also be persecuted” (Mark 10:29). Then he warned them, “Many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”  

Was Jesus warning Peter not to rate his own commitment too highly? Peter started with faith and enthusiasm, leaving everything to follow Jesus, but that did not guarantee him a position at the head of the line. If the first are last, perhaps Peter the first apostle might become Peter the least.    

Let’s pray. 

Our father, we have not left everything to follow Jesus. But we feel the pull of his teaching. He tells us not to hoard, but to live with open-handed generosity. He tells us to leave our isolation and participate in community. He teaches us to abandon our attempts to prove we are right, and to trust his forgiveness for sins we know and sins we don’t know. 

O Father, help us grow into this story of the rich man, to lose the things that are important to us, to let go of our conviction that we should be at the head of the line, to sacrifice the petty comforts we love. And when at last we stand before you, may we know your judgment is just, whether we are first or last.  

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

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