Nothing Is Impossible

Matthew 19:16-30 Read the New Testament in a Year: Acts 26:19-32 Do you sometimes find yourself facing a seemingly impossible situation? It might be a relationship that seems to have broken down irretrievably, or an issue to do with health, finances or something else where change seems impossible. With God there is always hope, no matter how bad things look. Nothing is impossible with God. His power makes all things possible. The context of Jesus’ words that ‘with God all things are possible’ (v.26) is the account of the rich young man to whom Jesus calls, ‘Come, follow me’ (v.21b). He tells him, ‘Go, sell your possessions and give to the poor’ (v.21a). But it is too much for him to give up and the young man goes away ‘sad’ (v.22). Jesus points out how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven (vv.23–24). Yet, with God ‘all things are possible’ (v.26). Jesus says that, humanly speaking, it is impossible for anyone to enter the kingdom of God (v.26). Worldly riches are of no help. In fact, they are more of a hindrance. Jesus says, ‘It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for the rich to enter the kingdom of God’ (v.24). Some people have suggested that this is a reference to a gate in Jerusalem that was called ‘the needle’s eye’. A camel would need to unload all it was carrying on its back to go through it. Other people have pointed out that a word very similar to ‘camel’ means a sort of rope. Maybe he was talking of threading rope through the eye of a needle. These attempts to rationalize the words of Jesus miss the point. The point is that it is totally unthinkable for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. But what is impossible in human terms is possible with God (v.26). In answer to the disciples’ question, ‘“Then who has any chance at all?” Jesus looked hard at them and said, “No chance at all if you think you can pull it off yourself. Every chance in the world if you trust God to do it”’ (vv.25–26).In this world the rich, the powerful and the famous are the ones who people look up to as ‘first’. The poor are looked down on, ignored and seen as ‘last’. But in the kingdom of heaven the reverse is the case. Jesus says, ‘But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first’ (v.30). This is God’s powerful upside-down kingdom. Jesus asks the rich young man to give to the poor because he wants the man to place his trust in him and because the poor are such a high priority in the kingdom. They should be for us too: the thousands of children dying each day through desperate poverty and starvation, the oppressed people of so many countries, the homeless on our streets, the voiceless and the vulnerable. Jesus rarely told people to give away everything, but in this case he did. For everyone there is a ‘cost’ to following Jesus. There is the cost of being willing to fly his flag in a hostile world. There is what may seem to be a cost of giving up things that we know to be wrong. Whatever ‘the cost’, it is nothing compared to what it cost Jesus to make ‘eternal life’ (v.29) possible for you and me. And it is nothing compared to the cost of not following Jesus. The rich young ruler missed out on so much. Furthermore, it is nothing compared to what you receive: ‘And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life’ (v.29). Jesus promises that for everything you give up, you will receive far more – in this life and, even more significantly, into eternity with Jesus.]]>