Open The Door As Wide As A Needles Eye! Series

Others believe that the word for rope and the word for camel were the same in Aramaic, as rope was made from camel’s hair. I found no correlation with this, as my concordance indicates the word camel is interpreted from Greek not Aramaic.

I have done a wee bit of research and discovered that it is likely that the saying is a colloquial saying a little like, “its’ got a dogs show”, or it’s impossiable.

There’s a Jewish study on the Song of Songs that uses a similar phrase to speak of God’s willingness and ability beyond comparison, to accomplish the salvation of a sinner, it goes like this:

The Holy One said, open for me a door as big as a needle’s eye and I will open for you a door through which may enter tents and [camels]?[2]

Interestingly what Jesus says when the disciples ask “who then can be saved?”

Lines up with this, his words are “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

2) The truth is that none of us are able to eternally save ourselves. This is a free gift it is something that God has done on our behalves. All we need to do is respond.

When we do respond, we see that nothing we can do adds anything to that sacrifice. In responding, we come to love God – we realise what the sacrifice cost. We come to love God because of Jesus sacrifice so that we can be free of our sins.

This is where the rich young bloke in the story came up short; this is the bit that he was missing.

Jesus had told him which commandments he needed to follow, he realised there was still something adrift.

This rich young bloke had an issue!

His riches were his God. Jesus challenge to him was, are you able to put God ahead of the riches you have? Why because this is the first and greatest commandment. “You shall have no God’s before me.” (Exodus 20:3)

This bloke was a gnat’s whisker from perfection. Jesus told him this! Sanctification was just there; he could reach out and grasp it, he just needed do this thing.

All he had to do was sell his possessions and give to the poor. Who incidentally, were his neighbors! Was he really willing to “love his neighbors as himself”?

Then follow Jesus.

If he had he would have piled up treasure in heaven.

The truth is he held onto what he couldn’t keep anyway. Comfort, security, lifestyle, pride, family opinion, friends opinions, what was it that held him back from being able to give it all over to God? To engage in social justice and give the money from his sold possessions to the poor? What ever it was he was not able to give Jesus priority in his life.

The truth is we don’t exactly know. Why is it that we have to be obedient to God, why is it that we have to engage in a Christian lifestyle, to follow the two great commandments, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and to love our neighbor as ourselves”. Why it is that Jesus put this bloke on the spot?

3) I heard a story about a couple who went on holiday, they had been away a couple of weeks and when they arrived home, after picking up a litre of that watery green top milk from the dairy, and getting their mail from their neighbors place. They went into their home to find they had been burgled.