But again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.
In this verse Jesus repeats the previous thought, but this time with a harsher image, in order to emphasize the seriousness of the point. In their days the camel was among the largest pack animals, and the eye of a needle was the smallest opening that can come to a person’s mind. Thus, Jesus says something that, from a human perspective, is absolutely impossible. This figurative saying means that a rich person whose heart is clinging to the world cannot, by his own strength, enter the kingdom of God. It is not merely difficult, but impossible. In reality, however, a person should regard his possessions not as an inseparable part of himself and plant in his heart an unbreakable attachment to them, but should regard them as God’s and be ready, according to God’s will, to renounce them: for example, if God should desire that all of it be given as an offering, he must carry out that desire. Therefore, if a person with his whole heart truly considers his possessions to be God’s and is ready to give all of it, then he will not be called rich, and therefore there will be no need to pass through the eye of a needle in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. Next Jesus will reveal that it is possible to be saved and to gain the right posture of heart not by human efforts, but through God.