We heard a homily in mass on the following passages of the Gospel:
19:23 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
19:24 And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
19:25 When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?”
(from the Gospel according to Matthew)(Compare to Mark 10:24-26 and Luke 18:24-26)
The explanation we heard was centered on the gates in the wall around Jerusalem. One gate was supposedly called the Eye of the Needle, and was a low gate through which sheep could pass easily, but which a camel would have to be on its knees to pass through. Similarly, a loaded camel (or any kind of an animal, really) would need to be unloaded first, as it would not be able to pass through the gate fully loaded with whatever it was carrying.
It makes for a nice story.
The image we have of a needle, used for sewing, is that it has an eye that is obviously too small for hardly anything to pass through it, much less a camel. Thus, it is impossible for a camel to go through it, so it is similarly impossible for a rich man to be saved. This goes over big with poor people in church: while they don't have a great deal in this life, at least things will be evened out some in the afterlife.
Of course, God has given some people riches. This in no way means that God does not intend these people to be saved. Here, of course, I disagree with many Christian groups who believe that some people were not intended to be saved. It's funny how people who say that always seem to have a smile on their faces, since they consider themselves part of the group that
was intended to be saved.
Anyway, as the homily went, it is not impossible for a rich man to be saved, just difficult, as it would be for a camel to go through this gate. And, just as the camel has to lose its burden, so does the rich man have to unburden himself some, and worry about heavenly things, and not earthly riches. It is important for the rich man to realize where his wealth (and his very existence) comes from, and be generous not just toward the Lord, but doing the Lord's work. Finally, it is nice to realize the need to humble oneself before God, and this is of course symbolized by the camel on its knees going through this gate for sheep.
Intrigued, I looked up this gate on the internet, and found no website that explained where the gate was or anything like that. There are sites that map out the ancient gates of Jerusalem, but no such "Eye of the Needle" gate was to be found. I
did find several sites where this story is repeated, for homilies, and some sites that claimed that it is only in Sunday School that such a gate exists. Apparently, this story crept into Christian teachings in recent centuries, but is not based in fact.
Okay, so what?
Well, let's think about this: imagine a camel, a big animal, going through the eye of the kind of a needle we sew with. Impossible! But, all things are possible with God.
God did not intend that anyone be lost, but rather that all be saved.
Impossible?
So, was there really such a gate in the wall around Jerusalem? It is an interesting question, and important to historians and archeologists, but does it really matter?
Our concern is the gate to Heaven. We need to understand that Jesus is about screening us
in, not screening us
out, but we need to do what He wants for that to happen, and that certainly may mean unloading some of our burdens, and relying more on our Creator than on earthly riches.
