“With Man it is Impossible.”

“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.” And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.’”  (Mark 10:25-27 ESV)

As was Jesus’ custom, He began teaching the crowds biblical truths that the Pharisees tried to use to “test” Him. It amazes me how hard the Jewish leadership fought Jesus’ teachings. It seems time and time again they tried to “test” Him so that they could use His words against Him, so they would be able to put Him to death. But the words of Jesus give life; they showed the Pharisees that they had it all wrong. The Pharisees were focused on keeping the letter of the Mosaic Law and oral traditions that kept the chosen people of God under bondage. The Pharisees not only took the 613 written Laws, and the hundreds, if not thousands, of traditions they had developed, to condemn the people for not following their teachings, while they themselves did not keep them.

Remember when Jesus said to them, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.”  (Matt. 23:27). This practice of looking at outward actions to impress God has been going on for too many years. It turns into our thinking that God owes us for following His commandment. To state it clearly, God owes us nothing, except to be separated from Him for eternity. However, by His grace (giving us something we don’t deserve), He promises to all who believe that the Lord Jesus’ death on the cross was sufficient payment for our sins, and that by believing we can have eternal life with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Now, in verse 17, we find a rich young man approaching Jesus and asking Him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” The sad part of his question is that for all of his life, he thought that by keeping the external actions of the Law of Moses, he had “earned” eternal life. Looking at Jesus’ response, we can see that he was very mistaken. You see, he “had heard” that if you followed the Pharisee’s teaching, God would be pleased with you and you could earn eternal life. That has never been God’s plan. From the very beginning of time, eternal life has always been about faith (being persuaded) that God is a God of grace and that He alone would provide a way of salvation. Remember the passage in Genesis 15:6 that tells us how Abraham was declared righteous, “And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.” Not by keeping rules, not by outward appearances, not by impressing anyone, but simply by “believing the LORD’.

The rich young man left Jesus and went away, grieved, because Jesus said he needed to trust not in his wealth or in things of this world, but to trust totally in Jesus. Jesus followed up his talk with the rich young man with an astounding lesson of complete reliance on God for eternal life. Jesus said, “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.” And when his disciples questioned his teachings, he then said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” 

Jesus was teaching that nothing in this world, not riches, not good works, not faithfulness to religious teachings, nothing will get you into the kingdom of God. Jesus even used little children and how they are totally dependent on their caregivers for survival, to illustrate that His followers need to be just like these little children, totally dependent on God’s mercy and grace.

When someone finally repents (changes their mind) about God’s plan of salvation, when they believe (are persuaded He right), they realize that they must be totally dependent of God’s mercy (not receiving what I deserve, eternal separation from God) and grace (receiving what I don’t deserve, eternal life with God), we understand that “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”

Receiving eternal life on our own, by our own good deeds, by our value system, is impossible; in fact, it would be easier for a huge camel to fit through the very small eye of a needle. Impossible right! This was a very good illustration by Jesus of the impossibility of receiving eternal life by our own merits. But by becoming totally dependent on God’s plan of salvation, we can indeed receive eternal life.

“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” My friend, stop trying to fit that camel through the eye of that needle; stop trying to do the impossible of earning your eternal life. Trust in God, accept the gift of salvation, and remember, “For all things are possible with God”.

"Living in Grace is not about what I can do, but about what Jesus has already done!"