Scripture: Matthew 19:24
Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.
Thought for the Day: Jesus presented – what some believe – was a very short parable. Parables provide a window through which we glimpse the Kingdom of God, and in this case, Jesus was suggesting that wealth might be a hinderance at the doorway. Upon reading this passage (it is in all three Synoptic Gospels—Matthew, Mark and Luke), the usual response is to define wealth as something more than we currently make. We build in a buffer of comfort between the line to which Jesus was speaking and our income level, yet it is interesting how the line set by Jesus always goes up with every raise we receive to maintain the buffer.
Instead of trying to push the parable away, maybe it is better to embrace it along with the discomfort it may bring. Recently, I read this parable alongside Philippians 2 where we read of how Jesus did not regard equality with God as something to which he should cling, but emptied himself of the divine nature and took on the form of a servant. It is interesting how the passageway to and from the kingdom requires the relinquishing of everything…for Jesus and us.
Prayer: I do not wish to wait until death before I become a citizen of your kingdom, Lord God. Whatever I need to renounce or leave behind so I might more fully participate, please help me to see. Amen.
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TOMORROW?
