It was told me that a group of “monkey hunters” developed an ingenious trap for catching monkeys. They put a banana in a wire-mesh cage and constructed a small mesh “tunnel” that reached into the cage. When a monkey reached through the tunnel to get the banana, it was unable to remove its hand because it couldn’t let go of the banana. For the monkey, the banana was more important than its freedom.
Aren’t we humans like that with our possessions. We grasp tightly whatever form our “banana” might take and will not let go of it even if our lives are at stake. Jesus told his disciples that this kind of possessiveness would keep many from entering the Kingdom of God (Matthew 19:23-30).
“Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of heaven. Again, I say to you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.”
I heard that next to the gate into Jerusalem was a small door which was used to let in travelers who arrived at night, after the gate was closed. The door was called the “needle’s eye.” If the traveler happened to have a camel with him, there was a problem. He could fit easily through the door but getting the camel through was a challenge. We can imagine him standing behind the camel pushing and shoving trying to squeeze him through the needle’s eye.
This is the image Jesus gives us about a rich man trying to get through the small door that leads into the Kingdom of God. If he is content to leave his possessions behind, he will fit. If, however, he insists on hanging onto his possessions, like the monkey in pursuit of the banana, he won’t make it.
This astonished the disciples. The rich people were the privileged ones who had almost anything they wanted. If God blessed the privileged with wealth, why would he make it difficult for them to enter his Kingdom.
“When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and said, ‘Who then can be saved?’ Jesus looked at them and said, ‘For men this is impossible, but for God all things are possible.”
Salvation is a gift of God. We can’t earn it or achieve it on our own. With or without riches it is impossible for us to be saved on our own. It is only when we turn our lives over to Him, that his grace can bring us through the Kingdom’s door. Our part is not trying to push through the needle’s eye, but to let ourselves be “small enough” so God can carry us through it. We recall the times when Jesus said, “unless you become as little children, you cannot enter the Kingdom of God.” But aren’t little children possessive? Don’t they insist on taking their favorite toys to bed with them and on family trips. Yes, but parents are wise enough to know that when they present a child with a “better offer,” they will forget their toys and run toward the ice cream cone, or whatever “better offer” their parents present to them.
Jesus is our “better offer.” There is a time in our lives when we outgrow our toys and other possessions and yearn for something better. There is something deep inside us that reminds us that only union with God is all that will satisfy us.
Peter reminded Jesus,
“We have given up everything and followed you. What will there be for us?” Jesus said to them, “… everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for the sake of my name will receive a hundred times more, and will inherit eternal life.”
Isn’t “a hundred times more” equivalent to 10,000% interest? Jesus is offering us an unbelievable deal. With God all things are possible. We pray for the freedom to let go of the things of this world so we can receive the treasure that God wants to give us.
