The
disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus answered again, “Children, how hard is it for those who trust in riches to enter into God’s Kingdom! It is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter into God’s Kingdom.”
Mark 10:24-25
Mark 10 [22.] But his face fell at that saying, and he went away sorrowful, for he was one who had great possessions. Jesus looked around, and said to his disciples, “How difficult it is for those who have riches to enter into God’s Kingdom!”
Mark 10 [24.] The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus answered again, “Children, how hard is it for those who trust in riches to enter into God’s Kingdom! It is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter into God’s Kingdom.”
Mark 10 [26.] They were exceedingly astonished, saying to him, “Then who can be saved?”
Meaning:
The rich man had just turned away from Jesus, sorrowful, because he had great possessions, and Jesus had said, “How difficult it is for those who have riches to enter into God’s Kingdom!” (Mark 10:22-23). The disciples could hardly believe what they heard. Instead of softening his words, Jesus repeats them, explains them and then sharpens them with one of the most memorable pictures he ever used: a camel trying to squeeze through the eye of a needle.
- “The disciples were amazed at his words”
In Israel wealth was often seen as a sign of God’s favour. Abraham, Job and Solomon had all been rich, and the law promised that obedience would bring prosperity in the land. Many people assumed that if anyone was on the way to the Kingdom, it was the respectable rich man who had kept the commandments from his youth. If even he could not enter, what hope was there for others? Their amazement shows how deeply Jesus’ teaching overturned the common view of blessing.
- “Children”
Jesus speaks tenderly. He calls the grown men around him “Children”, the only time Mark records him addressing the twelve this way. Only a little earlier he had taken children in his arms and said that the Kingdom must be received like a little child (Mark 10:13-16). The word reminds the disciples that they too enter the Kingdom as dependent children, not as people who have earned it.
- “Those who trust in riches”
Jesus explains where the danger lies. Money as such is not the problem; the problem is trusting in it. Riches promise security, independence and control, and so they compete with trust in God. Jeremiah heard the same warning: “don’t let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he has understanding, and knows me” (Jeremiah 9:23-24). Jesus told of a rich farmer who planned bigger barns, only to hear God say, “You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you” (Luke 12:20). Paul tells the rich not to set their hope “on the uncertainty of riches, but on the living God” (1 Timothy 6:17).
- “A camel to go through a needle’s eye”
The camel was the largest animal commonly seen in Palestine, and the eye of a sewing needle was the smallest opening anyone knew. Jesus is using deliberate exaggeration to describe something humanly impossible. Jewish teachers used a similar saying about an elephant passing through the eye of a needle. Some later writers suggested that the “needle’s eye” was a small gate in Jerusalem, or that “camel” should read “rope”, but there is no early evidence for either idea, and both miss the point. Jesus meant impossible, and the disciples understood him that way, for they asked, “Then who can be saved?” (Mark 10:26). His answer would be that what is impossible with men is possible with God (Mark 10:27). Matthew records the same saying (Matthew 19:23-24).
The Significance of Mark 10:24-25
- Examine where your trust lies
Most readers of these words are rich compared with the world of Jesus’ day. The question is not only how much we have, but what we rely on. If money is our security, it stands between us and God’s Kingdom.
- The poor are not shut out
God’s Kingdom is not a club for the successful. James writes, “Didn’t God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him?” (James 2:5). The Kingdom is open to all who come as children.
- Salvation is God’s work
If even the most respectable person cannot squeeze into the Kingdom by his own effort, then everyone needs God’s grace. The saying that seems so hard prepares the way for the good news that God can do what we cannot.
Cross-References:
Jeremiah 9:23-24: "Don’t let the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, don’t let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he has understanding, and knows me" True glory is in knowing God, not in wealth.
Luke 12:20: "But God said to him, ‘You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared—whose will they be?’" The folly of trusting in riches.
1 Timothy 6:17: "Charge those who are rich in this present world that they not be haughty, nor have their hope set on the uncertainty of riches, but on the living God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy" Hope in God rather than wealth.
Matthew 19:24: "Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into God’s Kingdom." Matthew’s record of the same saying.
Conclusion: When the disciples were amazed at his words about riches, Jesus spoke to them as his children and repeated the warning more strongly: it is hard for those who trust in riches to enter God’s Kingdom, harder than for a camel to pass through a needle’s eye. The picture describes something impossible for human effort. It exposes the false security of wealth and prepares the way for the good news that salvation is God’s work, open to all who trust him.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible