The Eye of a Needle
February 15, 2010 | Posted by Doug
"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." -Mark 10:25
| Reading: Mark 10:23-27
When Jesus tells the disciples how hard it is for a rich person to enter heaven, the disciples are astounded. They wonder “who then can be saved?” I guess they were impressed with rich people, saw them as people who had been especially blessed by God. If they can’t be saved, then poor and working class people must not have a chance. But it turns out God’s standards are very different than the world’s. In the next story, a poor, blind beggar named Bartimaeus hears Jesus coming, jumps up and throws off his cloak and runs to follow Jesus, and is totally accepted. What kind of standards are these?