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Mark 10:17-31 is a story about someone who felt a lack, but it turns out he felt his riches. This story puzzled the disciples when first heard, and it puzzles people nowadays. Please note with me several observations.

1. The man wanted something to DO, to be good.

2. Jesus played along and cited the commandments as something to DO.

3. When Jesus cited the "commandments," he meant the Ten Commandments of Exodus 20.

4. The man had done everything he could DO, indeed, Jesus loved him, saw his potential, and wanted him as a follower.

5. In order to get him as a follower, Jesus had to point out to him that he hadn't really done all the commandments. He had failed in the first, the relationship with God before anything else.

6. Jesus' instruction is not primarily about giving away wealth but about getting rid of whatever keeps one from becoming a follower of Jesus.

7. This is why Jesus could go on to say it is difficult for a rich person to enter in, because possessions are so seductive of the human affections and adorations.

8. Please, let's not dilute the message by trying to find some way that a camel can DO the eye of the needle, on his knees or any other way.

9. The eye of a sewing needle would have been most familiar to Jesus' first hearers, and best fits the point of the story, which is, It simply cannot be done.

10. It simply cannot be done for a person who TRUSTS in things, possessions, or accomplishments, to enter the kingdom of God.

11. First the disciples are "astonished," then "astonished out of measure." "Who then can be saved?!!" they exclaim.

12. Here's the punch line: "With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible."

13. The remainder of the passage picks up the pieces for the disciples after their world view has been shattered. I think that shows Jesus' compassion.