A prairie fire moves faster than you can run, silently moving over the land consuming everything in its path. As a fire of this nature approaches your house there is a moment when you have to decide between your things and your life. What would you choose to save? The family pictures, your pet, your bills? What if you lost everything and only walked away with your life? A recent article in the Christian Science monitor ponders this timeless question. A frantic phone call from her husband brings the life changing news that a fire was about to consume Shannon Kelley’s house. In that fateful moment she had to stop everything and decide out of all of her possessions what was the most important thing to save. It is a simple story with a life changing revelation.
Jesus says, “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.” (Matthew 19:24) On a simplistic level, this statement means that attachment to money keeps you from entering the kingdom of God. A deeper examination reveals that it is not money, but the attachment to the idea of what money means—safety, security, freedom. On an even deeper level is not just your thoughts about money, it reveals that any thought has this same intrinsic power. And on an even deeper level, it is recognized that your endless desire for the happiness that money represents, leads to the pursuit of the things of this world, which never provides lasting happiness or fulfillment. What if Jesus is not referring to wealth, a camel, or a needle at all? What is the real meaning of the eye of a needle? And how can this eternal eye and Shannon Kelly’s revelation serve to deepen your understanding of the sublime teaching of Jesus Christ?
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