Matthew 19:23-26

Matthew 19:23-26

And Jesus said to His disciples, “Amen, I say to you that with difficulty the rich will enter into the kingdom of heaven.  And again I say to you all, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than the rich to enter into the kingdom of God.”  After the disciples heard this they were greatly astounded while saying, “Then who is powerful enough to be saved?”  And after considering this Jesus said to them, “With mankind this is not powerful enough to be done.  But with God all things are powerful.”

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Notice the comment that Jesus gives us to lead off this passage.  He doesn’t outright deny that there will be any wealthy people in the kingdom.  He knows this not to be true.  Even our Bible has testimonies of wealthy people who were faithful to God.  In the Old Testament we have Abraham, Joseph, and King David as leading examples.  In the New Testament we have Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, and Lydia (the woman whom Paul meets in Philippi) as examples.  What Jesus says, though, is that it is with difficulty.  The Lord already knows how many internal distractions that we have to keep us from God.  The last thing any of us need is a possible external temptation like wealth and the pursuit of it or the pursuit of keeping it!  Paul himself reminds Timothy twice in 1 Timothy about the perils of the love of money.  See 1 Timothy 3:3 and 6:10.  The author of Hebrews – whom many think is Paul – reminds us to keep ourselves free from the love of money.  See Hebrews 13:5.  What Jesus is really saying in this opening passage is that money is a difficult thing to have and not love having.  It may be one of the toughest things in the world to have and not love having.

Why is it easy for human beings to love money (or love having it)?  Why is it easy for human beings to become addicted to having money?

Second Thought:

The disciples are once more astounded by what Jesus is saying.  Again we see the typical human mindset.  After all, isn’t it our default position in life to think that those who have all the money that they need are blessed?  Don’t we typically assume that they are living the high life?  Don’t we assume that God shines upon them?  This is the age old assumption of humanity that we meet even all the way back in Job.  Human beings – myself included – have a default notion that those who have lots of resources are beloved and blessed by God.  So it makes sense that the disciples should be astounded when they hear Jesus say that such people will have difficulty entering into the kingdom of God.  We assume that they are blessed.  Jesus says that they will have their own unique set of spiritual troubles.  Once more we hear Jesus countering typical human logic.

Do you ever think that those who have it all are blessed?  Do you ever wish that you had all the money you need?  According to Jesus’ words here, when you feel this way what are you actually wishing upon yourself?  Why is this an astounding thought?

Third Thought:

I love Jesus’ reply to the disciples.  The neatness of this response is really seen if we gaze deeply into the Greek.  The disciples don’t really ask, “Who can be saved?”  They really ask, “Who is powerful enough to be saved?”  The verb there is dynamai (δύναμαι), which is the root word for our English words dynamite, dynamic, or dynamo.  This is a word that describes power, especially an unexpected or sudden or explosive power. The disciples are speaking through their astounded state and saying, “If the wealthy aren’t powerful enough to be saved, who is?”  And this is why the teaching of Jesus is brilliant.  Jesus turns on their equation and gives them absolute truth.  In mankind, nobody is powerful enough to be saved.  Only God is powerful enough to save a human being.  That is such an incredibly deep and profound teaching – so much more powerful than simply saying, “with God all things are possible.”

Why is it profound to hear Jesus teaching the disciples that mankind is not powerful enough to save themselves?  Why is it profound to recognize that all people in every circumstance can only be saved when we turn to God?

Passage for Tomorrow: Matthew 19:28-30