This statement amazes the disciples; perhaps they opened their mouths and stood in awe. So Jesus repeats what he has said, and then Jesus adds this hyperbole: “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God.” Mark (ch. 10) relates this account.

They were astounded even more and were saying to one another, “Then who can be saved?” Thus, riches and salvation become entwined.

The New Testament emphasizes the issue quite differently from the Old Testa-ment. For instance, Job initially owns seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen; so Job is wealthier than any of the men of the East” (Job 1:3).

Yet Job is blameless, fearing God and avoiding evil (Job 1:1). And when Job has overcome his trials, the Lord rewards Job by doubling his wealth (42: 10, 12). Wealth in the Old Testament suggests God’s blessing.

Also, we note that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were all rich. The Psalmist sings, “Those blessed by the Lord will possess the land” (37:22; 29). If the people obeyed God, Moses promised, they would prosper in a land where they would “lack nothing” (Deut. 8: 9; 28:1-12). “Fear the Lord, you holy ones; nothing is lacking to those who fear him” (Psalm 34: 10).

The speech and example of Jesus in the New Testament, however, condemns those who so attach themselves to wealth as to prefer riches to Jesus.

Jesus never has wealth himself, but others aid Him. Jesus warns a would-be follower, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head” (Matt. 8:20). And Jesus lives with the hospitality of the women of Galilee, and with the sisters of Bethany.

Jesus has hard words about wealth. In one parable, a rich man enjoys such a lucrative harvest that he builds more storage so that he can eat, drink, and be merry for the rest of his life. Yet “God says to him: ‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you….’ Thus will it be,” Jesus warns, “for the one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God” (Luke 12: 16-21).

And in the second parable, a rich man dies and goes to hell, while the poor Lazarus is carried by angels to the bosom of Abraham (Luke 16: 19-31). The rich man prefers to clutch his wealth rather than to aid the person starving at the gate.

Jesus employs hyperbole to make a point about the kingdom of God. No one has ever seen a camel pass through the eye of a needle. Christ here dramatizes human impossibility. Money will not purchase entry through this narrow entrance into the kingdom.

Riches bring blessings, but they also carry danger. Gold and silver may feed pride, ambition, unbridled love of pleasure, scorn of justice. The lures of embracing loot rather than God are manifold.

Christ’s saying sets the disciples back on their heels. If the camel will not go through the eye of the needle, if even the rich cannot enter into the kingdom, “Then who,” they ask, “can be saved?”

Jesus answers, “With humans it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” Curing a leper and a paralytic, restoring sight to the blind and life to the lifeless, calming a storm at sea and calming a demoniac—these are acts of God. Salvation comes from the Lord’s bounteous act, a free gift to us. Whether we are with, or without, wealth, salvation comes by God’s grace.

We reconcile riches with God’s Kingdom by realizing that our faith is in God, that our ultimate trust does not lie where moth or rust consume. The Lord invites everyone, you and me, rich and poor, to draw close to Himself.

By the grace of God, whether in sickness or in health, whether in rags or in riches, we totally embrace the Lord. In my value system, gold shines only with a pale glimmer. Amen.

The Rev. Father Emmett Carroll is pastor of Bainbridge Island’s Saint Cecilia Parish.