Jesus and the Rich Young Ruler
Jesus and the Rich Young Ruler
The story of Jesus and the rich young ruler is found in the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 10. Jesus ended the encounter by telling the man:
“You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. (Mark 10:21-22)
After the rich young ruler left, Jesus said something very interesting to his disciples… he said: It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” (Mark 10:25)
Now there are a few different schools of thought about what Jesus meant by this. One theory is that Jesus was using a figure of speech of the day. Kind of like when you say, “I have a ton of homework” or “that guy is as skinny as dental floss,” or as my old Grand pappy used to say, “When I was a kid we were so broke we couldn’t afford to pay attention.” The ancient Persians even had an expression that it was easier to put an elephant through the eye of a needle. Maybe the camel was the Jewish version.
Another theory is that the “needle” Jesus was speaking of was a specific gate at Jerusalem, called the Needle Gate. It was supposedly a low, narrow, after-hours, entrance found in the wall of the city. The thinking was that a camel could only go through it by stripping off any saddles or packs and crawling through on its knees. The problem with this theory is there is not much evidence that such a gate ever existed in ancient Jerusalem.
The most likely explanation is that Jesus was using hyperbole, a figure of speech that exaggerates, for emphasis. As we’ve seen, Jesus used this technique on other occasions:
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. (Matthew 7:3-5)
Regardless, the message of Jesus is clear in the story of the rich young ruler, and again it centers around this radical new idea of grace—that it’s impossible for anyone to be saved on his or her own merits.
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