NOTES for Mar 10:23-32
After the rich young man was unable to follow the word of the Lord Jesus, to give everything away and become His disciple, the Lord, addressing the disciples, speaks about how hard it is for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Explaining to the disciples what happened, the Lord says: "How hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the Kingdom of God." A camel trying to enter through the eye of a needle is an image the disciples remembered forever. Usually the readers' attention is drawn to this strange, even somewhat surreal picture. It may be that the translation of this saying into Greek, made by the evangelist Mark from the Aramaic in which Christ spoke, and in which Peter told this story, is not entirely perfect; we do not know. It is obvious that the Lord is speaking about something absolutely impossible, and this is what Peter remembered and Mark translated.
The words about those who trust in riches, however, are found in late versions of the Gospel text. The copyists may have inserted them there by analogy with the accounts of the other evangelists; in the Middle Ages there was such a tendency toward unifying the accounts of the Synoptics. The most ancient manuscripts do not contain these words, and Mark's text in them sounds simply astonishing. The Lord says: "Children! How hard it is to enter the Kingdom of God; it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God." Thus the issue is not even wealth: according to Christ's words, it is hard in general to enter the Kingdom of God. Wealth and reliance on it are only a particular, especially vivid example.
This is exactly how the disciples understand Christ's words. That is why they do not speak about wealth, especially since they do not have any. "Who then can be saved?" they ask the Lord. Peter, perplexed, asks an even more specific question: "And we, who have followed You? Is it really hard for us too to enter the Kingdom of God?" The disciples get the impression that entering the Kingdom of God is impossible for absolutely anyone, even for them, who have left everything. It is to this question that the Lord gives us a word of great hope: "With men this is impossible, but not with God, for all things are possible with God." No human merits will help a person enter the Kingdom of God. Only God Himself accomplishes our salvation, and our human ideas are powerless here: many who are last will be first, and the first last; for people this is a mystery. But the main thing is that this is a great hope, open to all.