By Pastor Greg @Waynesboro
COB...
Are
you familiar with the cartoon character Winnie the Pooh? In the original movie, Pooh gets stuck in
Rabbit’s front door. And poor Pooh ends
up trying to wiggle himself the rest of the way out the hole. Do you happen to recall what Rabbit does to
cover up the problem?
It
seems it was impossible for a plump, cuddly old bear to pass through a hole the
size of a rabbit.
Pooh
bears, it seems, are not the only ones trying to squeeze through impossibly
small openings. It seems we humans are
quite prone to try what is impossible… a lesson a wealthy religious leader
needed to learn one day as he was talking with Jesus.
17 As Jesus was starting
out on his way to Jerusalem, a man came running up to him, knelt down, and
asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 “Why
do you call me good?” Jesus asked. “Only God is truly good. 19 But
to answer your question, you know the commandments: ‘You must not murder. You
must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. You
must not cheat anyone. Honor your father and mother.’” 20 “Teacher,” the man replied,
“I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.” 21 Looking at the man, Jesus
felt genuine love for him. “There is still one thing you haven’t done,” he told
him. “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you
will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 22 At this the man’s face
fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.
23 Jesus looked around
and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of
God!” 24 This amazed them. But Jesus said again, “Dear
children, it is very hard to enter the Kingdom of God. 25 In
fact, 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!” 26 The disciples were astounded.
“Then who in the world can be saved?” they asked. 27 Jesus looked at them
intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God.
Everything is possible with God.” 28 Then
Peter began to speak up. “We’ve given up everything to follow you,” he said. 29 “Yes,” Jesus replied, “and
I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or
mother or father or children or property, for my sake and for the Good News, 30 will
receive now in return a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters,
mothers, children, and property—along with persecution. And in the world to
come that person will have eternal life. 31 But many who are
the greatest now will be least important then, and those who seem least
important now will be the greatest then.” [1]
It’s not about the money. Let’s set that straight right from the
beginning. Nowhere in scripture does the
Lord teach that it is wrong to be wealthy.
Dangerous? Yes. Does it cause temptation? Absolutely.
But it is not considered a sin. Do
you want to know what I think? I think
this wealthy religious man came to Jesus looking for affirmation. I do.
I think he was looking for affirmation from Jesus that he had attained
this eternal life that the Lord had mentioned so often in the past. So, when the Lord starts running down over a
list of good things a person should do,
I suspect this man was making mental checkmarks; he was looking for assurance
that what he was already doing would
guarantee eternal life.
I don’t believe this religious
man expected Jesus to add anything more to the list, but He does. He tells this man to do what his heart was
not prepared to do. And of all the
people who came to Jesus, this man was one of the few to walk away sad. He was so close, so very close. “Missed it by
‘that’ much,” as Maxwell Smart used to say.
Probably most Christians today
would correct this wealthy man. Most
Christians would pull him aside and correct his theology; doing right things
does not earn someone eternal life. You
and I would gently remind him that the very foundation of Christianity is based
on the fact that, through Jesus, God did for us what we could not do for
ourselves. We can never be good enough
to inherit eternal life. We simply
cannot twist and wiggle our way into Heaven.
For this reason, salvation is considered a gift from God; it is given to
those who believe that Jesus suffered and died to cleanse them from sin.
As I said earlier, this isn’t
about the money. It can’t be; for, if
this man had indeed followed Jesus’ command here, do you feel he would receive
eternal life? Did this religious man
need one more item on his checklist that would make him right with God? Of course not! This is why Jesus drives the point home with
the “Eye of the Needle” reference. It is
impossible to force a camel through the eye of a sewing needle (or a Pooh
through a rabbit hole). It just doesn’t
work. And neither will a man’s attempt
at being good be enough earn him eternal life.
Our standard of Good and God’s standard are miles apart. And the thrust of what Jesus is teaching here
is that it’s impossible for a person to do
the right things that grant them eternal life.
The hard truth in this story is
that it is impossible for any human being, rich or poor, to earn eternal life. No one can.
And we dare not create our own checklist, thinking our “good Christian
behavior” has somehow made us right with God.
We dare not because the moment we come to the Lord with all we have done in His name, He will remind us
of what we have not done.
Like the apostles, we ask, “Who
then can be saved?”
Jesus wasn’t trying to drive
this rich religious man away. Instead,
He was trying to help him see that even 9 tenths of the way through the needle
isn’t good enough. And, again, it wasn’t
about the money. Jesus was simply trying
to help this man realize that eternal life is not a reward for a life well
lived; it is a gift from God for turning to Jesus in faith.
Do we need to be reminded of
this? I think we do. I think many good Christians struggle with
the assurance of salvation because there are many times in their lives when
they realize just how often they have failed to be good enough … even those who
make it nine tenths of the way through the needle! You and I and many other believers seem to
know that our good isn’t good enough, and we get rather uncomfortable when the
Lord reveals a new sin in our life. Like
Paul, we cry out to God, “Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this
life that is dominated by sin and death?” [2]
On those days when we feel
unworthy or undeserving of eternal life, maybe we need to simply remind
ourselves that eternal life and salvation was never ours to earn. Maybe, like Paul, we need to exclaim, “Thank God! The
answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.” [3] Sure, Jesus is going to point out new areas
in our life that need to change; we always have some sin that needs to be
addressed, but thank God for the work of Jesus on the cross. Our eternal life does not depend on being
good enough. It is impossible to be so good that God is obligated to reward
you. We can’t pass through the
needle. But, with God it is
possible.
By His grace, the Lord God
covers our sin with the righteousness of Christ. Because of what Jesus did on the cross, God
drapes us with the righteous robes of Jesus.
His blood covers our sin.
Even the part that is stuck
dangling from the eye of that needle.
[1] Tyndale House
Publishers. (2013). Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Mk 10:17–32). Carol
Stream, IL.
[2]
Tyndale House Publishers. (2013). Holy Bible: New Living
Translation (Ro 7:24). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale
House Publishers.
[3]
Tyndale House Publishers. (2013). Holy Bible: New Living
Translation (Ro 7:25). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale
House Publishers.
