I don’t know about you, but threading a needle for me has become an act of hope and prayer as I have gotten older. Some days I think I would be as likely to get a camel through the eye of a needle as a thread. But I exaggerate. All I really need is a bright light and glasses to correct my vision. I do wonder if the analogy offered in this parable is hyperbole though. I’m not one to read the Bible literally, but in a more direct reading, it does appear to say that it is impossible for a person with a lot of money to go to heaven. I am not certain that Jesus means to say it is impossible for an entire portion of humanity to be in heaven.

I suspect that I am not the only person that has found one of the most valued qualities of parables to be that over the decades we hear people interpret them and question their meaning over and over in different ways. Sometimes we are led to a completely new understanding by those among us that see with the most clarity.

So it is in this spirit that I look at this parable. Let us shine a bright light on it and sharpen our vision. What if the challenge is not in the camel and the needle but in what we think of being rich? What if the lesson is in what we consider wealth and what we seek rather than about coins and whether we have a lot?

Wealth of the financial kind has always seemed arbitrary and relative to me. Who has money and who does not rarely appears to be based on any one specific skill or trait. I have known people who have had what I would consider vast sums who were constantly voicing poverty and people who had less than I who seemed more satisfied and wealthy than most.

What if the reason it is hard to get through the eye of the needle is because we seek things that aren’t the path to heaven? What if the reason we don’t see the eye of the needle clearly is because we aren’t looking in the right direction?

What if the lesson is that we can’t be rich because everything we have is a gift, and we don’t really own anything at all? What if wealth has nothing to do with amount but how we view ownership and what we choose to do with what we have been given?

If one’s goal is earthly wealth, and one thinks they gain it by one’s own skill and hard work then life may or may not be filled with earthly delights and pleasures. These are not the lessons that Jesus came to teach us. His vision is focused elsewhere.

Be careful what you seek. What kind of satisfied do you want to be? Who are you trying to please? Be careful what you spend your time searching for because most likely it is exactly what you will find.

God, please help me not to aim for my own goals but for yours. Allow me the insight to understand how to see clearly what has value. Give me the strength to share what you have given me in the ways that you value and no other. Allow me to understand what poverty and wealth really are, Amen.

Today's devotional was written by Jill Pope and read by Joey Smith.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is:

Thank you for joining us for today's Grace for All podcast.

On Saturdays, we pause for a few moments to look back on our week and to review the scriptures that we have used in our podcast. We encourage you, after listening to this episode, to go back and listen to the episodes you missed, or to review the ones that were particularly meaningful for you.

We trust that the thoughts that we have shared with you this week have provided a full portion of the joy, peace, and love of Jesus Christ. Now, let's hear this week's scriptures.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

As I write this, a good three weeks into January, I am thinking about the Christmas decorations in my neighborhood that have not been taken down, their lights still burning each night. It’s well past epiphany. So the other night I was walking my dog, and contemplating the number of people who left their lights up longer than usual this year. I find it curious, but I don’t blame them, and I certainly don’t mind. In fact, I said a silent prayer of gratitude. Because I still need a little Christmas. Still long to welcome the baby Jesus. Still yearn to see love come down, heaven touch earth, and light pierce darkness.

When I consider this scripture passage from the gospel of Matthew, I can’t help but think about how God came to us as a little child. The people expected a king, a powerful ruler who would liberate by force. Instead, Jesus arrived on the scene as a newborn, wrapped in rags, sleeping in a feed trough–humble, vulnerable, a lowly child who was, in fact, the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. To understand what Christ means when he teaches his disciples that we will never enter the kingdom of heaven unless we change and become like little children, we need to look no further than his origin story.

As you hear this, I expect that the Christmas lights in my neighborhood—and yours—have finally come down. But perhaps you and I both still need a little Christmas, still long to see heaven come down, and touch earth. In this passage from Matthew, Jesus gives us clear instructions on how to usher in the kingdom. And it is not to fight and force our way to greatness. No, in fact it is not to become great at all. It is to become lowly.

It is not to exalt an earthly king. It is to welcome a little child.

Lord Jesus, we know your kingdom is not of this world, and yet too often we think we might find you by running after earthly things. Humble us, that we might have the eyes, the minds and the hearts of children. May we look for you in the least among us and in welcoming them, may we welcome your kingdom, on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.

This devotion was written and read by Greta Smith

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

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