Tuesday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time

When we hear this image—perhaps we could call it a kind of parable—of a camel passing through the eye of a needle, we hear the Lord’s criticism of wealth. And I do think it is intended to be a criticism. But I do not think that is the only thing happening here. It cannot be the only thing Jesus is saying, because the disciples are greatly astonished, and they respond, “Who then can be saved?”

If Jesus were merely condemning wealth, that question would make no sense. They ask it because something more is going on.

Behind their question, I think, is an old idea that Jesus addresses elsewhere in the Gospel: the idea that whatever wealth I have in this life is directly a blessing from God—and not simply a blessing, but somehow a positive affirmation of my life. In other words, God gives me wealth because I am good or, in its most perverse form, because I am better than other people.

Many people still think that way today. They go through life believing that having many things is a sign that God has chosen them in some special way. And I think that is the assumption the disciples are making. That is why they ask, “Who then can be saved?” If even these people, who seem to have been abundantly blessed by God, do not have a chance, then what about us, who have nothing?

And I think that is the question Jesus answers when he says, “For men it is impossible.” The deeper point Christ is making is that salvation is impossible for each of us on our own. We simply are not going to accomplish it. But for God, all things are possible. With God’s grace, with his help, and by relying on him, salvation becomes possible. Truly following Christ becomes possible.

Jesus is reminding us not to depend upon ourselves, as though we could ever make ourselves good enough, holy enough, or free enough from sin to please God and attain eternal life. Instead, we must recognize salvation as his gift to us. Because he loves us, he desires to show us mercy. He desires to forgive us. He desires to make us truly better and more like himself.

But he is the one doing that work in us. He is the one giving us grace and calling us to life. It is good for us to remember this, because we can fall into a certain habit: we struggle with something, become very discouraged, and say to ourselves, “I just can’t do this anymore. I quit. I’m giving up and finding an easier way.”

But giving up is not the solution in those moments. That reaction makes sense if everything depends upon us. At some point we realize we cannot make it, and so we give up. But everything does not depend upon us; it depends upon God. So in precisely those moments when we discover that we are too weak to live as we should, we trust in him all the more.

We turn to him and ask for even more grace—not because we can make ourselves better, but because he desires to help us in those moments, to lift us up, and to make us better than we could ever become on our own.

For a Christian, then, there is never a reason to become despondent. There is never a reason to give up, because it is not ours to accomplish by our own strength. The infinite, all-powerful God is with us. He wills that we be saved, that we become good and holy, and we can depend upon him.

The challenge is to depend upon him rather than ourselves. We have to keep fighting this battle in the Christian life, in the spiritual life. We must fight to place all our dependence, all our hope, and all our trust in God and in the grace he gives us. Because every time we step in the way, we are going to fall. But when we allow him to lead us, when we allow his grace to move us, then we truly succeed.

So let us look at our lives and ask: Where do I feel that I am taking control? Where do I imagine that I can do it on my own? Let us surrender those places to the Father, recognizing that he can lift us higher. He can do far more than we could ever do on our own.