Who then can be saved?

 Then Jesus said to His disciples, "Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.  And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."  When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, "Who then can be saved?"  But Jesus looked at them and said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."  Then Peter answered and said to Him, "See, we have left all and followed You.  Therefore what shall we have?"  So Jesus said to them, "Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.  And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.  But many who are first will be last, and the last first."

- Matthew 19:23-30

Yesterday we read that little children were brought to Jesus that He might put His hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them.  But Jesus said, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven."  And He laid His hands on them and departed from there.  Now behold, one came and said to Him, "Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?"  So He said to him, "Why do you call Me good?  No one is good but One, that is, God.  But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments."  He said to Him, "Which ones?"  Jesus said, " 'You shall not murder,' 'You shall not commit adultery,' 'You shall not steal,' 'You shall not bear false witness,' 'Honor your father and your mother,' and 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' "  The young man said to Him, "All these things I have kept from my youth.  What do I still lack?"  Jesus said to him, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."  But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

Then Jesus said to His disciples, "Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.  And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."  When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, "Who then can be saved?"  But Jesus looked at them and said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."  My study bible gives us varying interpretations that have been suggested for the impossible image of a camel going through the eye of a needle.  Some have commented that the word for camel sounds like the word for "rope" in Aramaic.  Some have suggested that the eye of a needle was a city gate through which a camel possibly could barely squeeze if it were first unloaded of its baggage, which symbolizes wealth or possessions.  In the Talmud there is the expression "for an elephant to go through the eye of a needle."  In any way that we read the phrase, it tells us of the impossibility of salvation for those who are attached to riches.  The disciples understand this clearly, as they respond, "Who then can be saved?"  But by God's grace, even what is impossible for human beings can come to be.

Then Peter answered and said to Him, "See, we have left all and followed You.  Therefore what shall we have?"  So Jesus said to them, "Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.  And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.  But many who are first will be last, and the last first."  My study bible says here that Christ is not commanding believers to divorce spouses and abandon children.  Rather, according to St. John Chrysostom, what this means is keeping faith under persecution, even if it means to lose one's family.  It also means that one may need to accept that unbelieving family members may cut off ties because of the believer's faith (see 1 Corinthians 7:12-16).  Believers are promised a hundredfold of houses and relatives not in an earthly sense, but rather in a spiritual one.  That is, in the fathers and mothers of the Church, our brothers and sisters in Christ, and houses of worship and fellowship.  This includes the entire communion of saints, with whom we pray and to whom we can call for prayerful intercession with us.

Jesus speaks of the near-impossibility of a "rich man" entering the kingdom of heaven.  But, He says, "with God all things are possible."   By the standards of Jesus' time, there is no doubt that many modern people fit into the category of a "rich man," if we consider the types of prosperity and innovation that many in the world enjoy today, especially in countries in which there is a well-developed middle class.  But Jesus is not simply talking about wealth in terms of dollar equivalents.  He's speaking about possessions as they define who we are and what we do in life.  He speaks of the disciples who leave all behind for the sake of following Him, and ask Him, "Who then can be saved?"  What is important are the difficulties of exchanging one type of life for another, and how entrenched we are in the things that Christ will call on us to give up our attachments to in order to more deeply follow Him.   If we take the example of St. Peter, who tells Jesus, "See, we have left all and followed You," we get an interesting case to examine.  Peter, we know, has an extended family and is married.  Earlier in the Gospel we were told about His mother-in-law who was healed by Christ, and began to serve those in the house (Matthew 8:14-15).  What we understand about Peter's life is, first of all, his business as a fisherman, and that he was married, and also that his family home becomes Jesus' ministry "headquarters" in Capernaum.  We're never told that this makes Peter particularly wealthy by any standards of the time, but here he is the one who says "See, we have left all and followed You.  Therefore what shall we have?"  I think it's important for us to look closely at Peter's life, and see that he has left his job as fisherman to follow Christ and be His disciple and apostle.  His home has become a place for Jesus' ministry.  His wife's mother, we're told, serves Christ when she is healed.  Everything in his life has become a part of his faith, and has been "handed over" to serve his faith in Christ.   This is the type of devotion to which Jesus points, and in particular that which we should consider when we're told that "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."    Whatever possessions we have (including extended family in that equation), our lives will be turned over to our faith in an increasing and deepening journey in which our prime loyalty becomes to Christ -- and through Christ, the Kingdom of heaven and all that includes.    We all have some possession to which we are attached, but to give one's life over requires a deepening difficulty when one has many possessions in one's care and attached to one's identity and station in life.  We all need God's grace to do this.  We all rely on God's grace to lead us into a life where our goals and aspirations center upon a deepening participation in the Kingdom and the sharing of God's grace as a part of the life we live in the world.  This is not simply a matter of doing good deeds and sharing one's wealth.   It is even more significantly a question of the heart.  It becomes a question about what we are most devoted to in life, what we place first in the way we relate to the world, including our possessions.  It is an orientation of love that mediates the rest.  These men to whom Jesus speaks, His disciples, are those who've put everything else aside for this mission and in service of this mission.  This is the great difficulty of detaching from possessions that bind us to a way of life, a purpose, and the demands of a world that is not so attuned.  Let us remember that love and the deepening journey to Christ start in the heart, that the Kingdom of heaven is within us and among us.  Repentance is that long and continual process of turning from one "devotion" to another, to the place where Christ calls us.  It asks of us everything in our lives, leaving behind what we thought was more important, bit by bit -- and reassigning values.  Grace is the key to its work, and holiness part and parcel of what He asks.  It's important to know, as noted by St. John Chrysostom's commentary in yesterday's reading, that the specifics of what this will look like for each of us will be different.  There's a story from the Desert Fathers about one monk who thought he'd achieved great holiness.  His spiritual elder told him, "I know someone holier than you are."  He took the monk not to another hermit, but deep into the heart of a city, where there was a man who worked repairing shoes in his shop.  All the day as he worked, this man sang to himself the thrice-holy hymn and its praises to God:  "Holy God, Holy Almighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us."  There may be saints among us one never knows about; the real depth of devotion in the heart is something only God truly knows.