“The eye of a needle…” Pretty tiny. Let’s all make an eye of a needle using our thumbs and forefingers and see how teeny tiny you can make it. Now, try to imagine the futility of squeezing through that teeny tiny little space. If you can do it, then, Jesus says, you can get into the Kingdom of Heaven. If you can’t do it, Jesus says, then you’re out of luck. Actually, he doesn’t say you per se, but talks about camels going through the eye of a needle.
But the listener of the story was a rich young man and for purposes of comparison, let’s just include ourselves in his company. Some Biblical scholars say that the eye of a needle was a particularly small gate through which to get in or out of Jerusalem. The point would be that it would be difficult for this very large camel to get through this very small gate, as difficult as it would be for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Difficult, but not impossible. What if it’s a very small camel or a very humble camel who doesn’t mind getting down on his knees, or a very nimble camel kind of doing the limbo under a very low bar. Now that’s an interesting picture!
However, I prefer to take Christ’s analogy literally because I think he wants to make the point that the Kingdom of Heaven is prepared for us by God’s grace, by God’s generosity, by God’s forgiveness, by God’s love. Most of us prefer some sort of wiggle room because we rather like the notion of having earned our place in the pantheon of the gods, but that’s not going to fly today and we are left with the picture of the rich young man shaking his head because the cost of going through the eye of that needle was so great.
Today, and a week from today, it is my privilege to talk about money. I’m the preacher today and next Sunday and I will be keeping very good company because Jesus spoke so much about money. In fact, other than the Kingdom of Heaven, money was Jesus’ favorite topic. To be sure, as in today’s Gospel, the two are inextricably linked. Besides Jesus I have other company willing to talk about money, namely, Julie Flood, Michael Millar, Steve Hudson, and Barbara Spencer. It’s their signatures on the bottom of this week’s Stewardship mailing and in fact, they suggested that I join them. So here we are.
I can’t resist the wonderful story about George Councell, the Rector of Holy Spirit, Lake Forest, when he identified the $750,000 that would make it possible for the Hispanic Episcopal church in Waukegan to buy a former Lutheran church in order to house their own congregation. When George ascended the pulpit steps of Holy Spirit he said to his congregation, “There is good news and there is bad news. The good news is that we have the $750,000 necessary to help the Hispanic congregation fulfill their dreams.” Well, you can just imagine the sigh of relief until he shared with them the bad news:
“The bad news is that that money is still in your pockets.”
Now I want to spin that out a little bit more because George Councell and some others had a vision for how some of God’s children could know the Kingdom of Heaven here and now. He could see in this fledgling Hispanic Episcopal congregation how that church could blossom with a church of their own. That was six or seven years ago. Today, that congregation has the largest attendance of any Episcopal congregation in the Diocese of Chicago. And plans are already being made to expand their space even further to accommodate a further two- or three- or four hundred more people who wish to worship there.
I am especially grateful to Julie, Michael, Steve, and Barbara for helping us to understand that it is the mission and ministry of Christ Church that drives our giving. Moreover, it is our participation in that mission and ministry that drives our giving. But fundamentally it is an offering we make of thanksgiving that God has blessed us in order that we might be a blessing to others. Being blessed is not an end unto itself. There is a purpose for it. There is a reason for it. And the purpose and reason as I understand it is to be recipients of God’s Kingdom and to lend a hand so that others might find it as well.
And you know what? It all starts right here. It all starts in the company of Jesus and in the company of one another. One reason the story of the rich young man is so poignant is that he gave up the chance to be in the company of Jesus and in the company of others who were following Jesus. One of the great insights we had last year in the 100th Anniversary of this building was the truly remarkable nature of this building as a gift. Those before us, beginning with the Hoyt family memorial with the mother and children depicted in that stained glass in front of us, bequeathed this house of God so that you and I could have a taste of God’s Kingdom. To be sure, we have a responsibility in that inheritance for the generations that come after us. But right now, right this minute, we have received a gift we have not earned and to which we can only respond, “Thank you.”
Moreover, right this minute, right now, we have the chance to provide others with glimpses of the Kingdom by our generosity, by all those things within and without this parish that connect us to Jesus and to those who would follow Jesus and to all whom Jesus loves. Am I adequate to the task? Can I make myself available to Jesus through my hands and through my heart? The good news is that we’ve got the money for Jesus. The bad news is that it’s still in our pockets.
Next Sunday, let’s give it to Jesus and see how God’s Kingdom can be revealed. Amen.
