The Fat Camel – Mark 10:17-31 Oct. 15, 06 KBC
This week when I heard that a plane crashed into a high-rise in NYC, immediately, involuntarily, my mind produced an image. It was that dark image of smoke arising from the twin towers, an ugly gash where there ought to be metal and glass. Most of us will never be able to erase that image from our mind’s photo-album.
Images, pictures, mental portraits are not only powerful they are life shaping – even if in ways that aren’t always serious. Not long ago when driving through France we were on a small narrow road, winding through the countryside. I was driving, do my best job at imitating French driving – which is a kind of take no prisoners approach to the road. And we passed a bicycle – it was an adult with a child on his back. The three other people in the car spoke up, saying, “hey, you got awfully close to that kid’s arm!” “Oh, I thought that thing was a baguette,” I said. That image, of a rider with a baguette in his back-pack, is paradigmatic for me. It tells my brain what it ought to see. (and by the way, I would never get that close to a kid’s arm – or to someone’s baguette for that matter).
I don’t know if you’ve noticed it, but Mark has some remarkable images. He is a great writer, not in that his language is particularly eloquent, it’s actually quite simple. It’s his stories. His stories are filled with these stark and stunning pictures. Now possibly it’s wrong to give Mark credit – most of the images came from the teachings of Jesus - but still, Mark compiles them.
In the next few weeks we’ll be looking at: “The Fat Cat” “The Blind Dog” “The Wise Teacher” and “The Widow’s Mite.” Today, it’s the “fat camel.”
Jesus could have simply said: “it’s hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom,” but instead: “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” The image of a camel and a needle has haunted every person of means, ever since.
Well, at least the first 1000 years. As far back as the 9th century an interpretation was developed that the eye of the needle refers to a small gate in Jerusalem. The cartoon on the bulletin alludes to this. Supposedly this gate was built so low that a camel could only pass if it entered kneeling and unencumbered with baggage. It’s a great picture: taking the baggage off, getting the camel to kneel, squeeze the 2,000 lb animal through. The reason this interpretation has been so popular is not only because it seems to explain a hard passage, but it’s a great image! And we can all identify with the need to get less encumbered, to kneel, to loose weight (metaphorically speaking).
And if you’ve worked with cattle, horses, sheep – you know about trying to get large animals in small places. I’ve spent many a frustrating moment as a youth trying to get a large cow into a tight chute. It’s one the few places I heard my grandfather cuss.
With this image the lesson is clear. First, eternal inheritance awaits those who unburden themselves of the things of this world and work their way into the kingdom. Second, you’re better off being a skinny camel than a fat camel.
There is only one small problem. There is no historical evidence that such a gate ever existed. No archeologist has found it. It looks like most scholars dismiss this. And there is one large problem. I think this interpretation sends the wrong theological message. The message of scripture is not that you ought to be a skinny better looking camel. The gospel tells us to loose our camelness altogether!
This miss-reading intimates that with the right effort – unloading, bending, maybe going to the Y, doing some Yoga, appointments at curves, taking a “being a better camel course” – that you could work your way through the needle.
But look at the reaction of the disciples. They didn’t seem to think about that gate in Jerusalem. “The disciples were even more amazed… who can be saved?” They weren’t rich, what were they worried about? Or did some of them have just enough to be slightly worried… or maybe really wonderful rich friends. Or most likely, they were shocked because much of traditional wisdom of the day (not unlike today) taught that prosperity was a sign of God’s blessing. Jesus was turning that on its head.
In any case, they weren’t thinking: “oh, sure, just skinny up the camel and we’ll all be OK. They were shocked and clearly weren’t thinking about that gate for unburdened camels.”
I think we need to take this statement at face value. This is supported by a passage from the Babylonian Talmud which applies a very similar saying to dreams. To explain that dreams are based in reason, the Rabbis said that dreams: “do not show a man a palm tree of gold, nor an elephant going through the eye of a needle.” Chose your large four-footed bovine, none of them are going through an eye of a needle.
Except via a miracle. I think Jesus means what he says. It’s impossible for a rich man to enter the kingdom. It’s just as possible as getting a camel through a millimeter size hole. It’s not happening. Except… all things are possible with God.
But of course I do a disservice to this image of a camel, if I don’t talk about what prompted it. There was a young man who came asking about how he could inherit eternal life. Since he was rich – it is very possible that he had inherited everything else – so now he was after riches in the next life. How do I get it? He asks.
As I mentioned last week, the fact that this story follows the story about Jesus saying we must receive the kingdom like a child is telling. The young man says ever since he was a child he has been good. Jesus says, no one is good except God, and that we must all be like a child. Mark’s contrast of images is striking: moral strivings of the upwardly mobile, or the joyous reception of grace as a gift – an unmerited, undeserved, unearned, gift.
I think Fred Craddock is right: “Jesus is calling him to cast aside all other dependencies and in radical trust stand bare before the God who gives. In other words, this is an invitation to discipleship. There is no praise of poverty or an attack on the wealthy… But here stands a person whose life has been defined by wealth, and sadly, he will not accept a new definition of himself – a man rich before God.”
Indeed Jesus doesn’t tell all of his followers to sell all. To Nicodemus, who likely trusted his birth family for salvation, he said be born again. To Peter who didn’t want to follow anyone except his impulses, he said “follow me.” And to the thirsty woman at the well, who thirsted after water and men, he said accept my living water and sin no more. Jesus has a way of saying the hardest thing a person needs to hear.
Images, pictures, mental portraits are not only powerful they are life shaping – even if in ways that aren’t always serious. Not long ago when driving through France we were on a small narrow road, winding through the countryside. I was driving, do my best job at imitating French driving – which is a kind of take no prisoners approach to the road. And we passed a bicycle – it was an adult with a child on his back. The three other people in the car spoke up, saying, “hey, you got awfully close to that kid’s arm!” “Oh, I thought that thing was a baguette,” I said. That image, of a rider with a baguette in his back-pack, is paradigmatic for me. It tells my brain what it ought to see. (and by the way, I would never get that close to a kid’s arm – or to someone’s baguette for that matter).
I don’t know if you’ve noticed it, but Mark has some remarkable images. He is a great writer, not in that his language is particularly eloquent, it’s actually quite simple. It’s his stories. His stories are filled with these stark and stunning pictures. Now possibly it’s wrong to give Mark credit – most of the images came from the teachings of Jesus - but still, Mark compiles them.
In the next few weeks we’ll be looking at: “The Fat Cat” “The Blind Dog” “The Wise Teacher” and “The Widow’s Mite.” Today, it’s the “fat camel.”
Jesus could have simply said: “it’s hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom,” but instead: “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” The image of a camel and a needle has haunted every person of means, ever since.
Well, at least the first 1000 years. As far back as the 9th century an interpretation was developed that the eye of the needle refers to a small gate in Jerusalem. The cartoon on the bulletin alludes to this. Supposedly this gate was built so low that a camel could only pass if it entered kneeling and unencumbered with baggage. It’s a great picture: taking the baggage off, getting the camel to kneel, squeeze the 2,000 lb animal through. The reason this interpretation has been so popular is not only because it seems to explain a hard passage, but it’s a great image! And we can all identify with the need to get less encumbered, to kneel, to loose weight (metaphorically speaking).
And if you’ve worked with cattle, horses, sheep – you know about trying to get large animals in small places. I’ve spent many a frustrating moment as a youth trying to get a large cow into a tight chute. It’s one the few places I heard my grandfather cuss.
With this image the lesson is clear. First, eternal inheritance awaits those who unburden themselves of the things of this world and work their way into the kingdom. Second, you’re better off being a skinny camel than a fat camel.
There is only one small problem. There is no historical evidence that such a gate ever existed. No archeologist has found it. It looks like most scholars dismiss this. And there is one large problem. I think this interpretation sends the wrong theological message. The message of scripture is not that you ought to be a skinny better looking camel. The gospel tells us to loose our camelness altogether!
This miss-reading intimates that with the right effort – unloading, bending, maybe going to the Y, doing some Yoga, appointments at curves, taking a “being a better camel course” – that you could work your way through the needle.
But look at the reaction of the disciples. They didn’t seem to think about that gate in Jerusalem. “The disciples were even more amazed… who can be saved?” They weren’t rich, what were they worried about? Or did some of them have just enough to be slightly worried… or maybe really wonderful rich friends. Or most likely, they were shocked because much of traditional wisdom of the day (not unlike today) taught that prosperity was a sign of God’s blessing. Jesus was turning that on its head.
In any case, they weren’t thinking: “oh, sure, just skinny up the camel and we’ll all be OK. They were shocked and clearly weren’t thinking about that gate for unburdened camels.”
I think we need to take this statement at face value. This is supported by a passage from the Babylonian Talmud which applies a very similar saying to dreams. To explain that dreams are based in reason, the Rabbis said that dreams: “do not show a man a palm tree of gold, nor an elephant going through the eye of a needle.” Chose your large four-footed bovine, none of them are going through an eye of a needle.
Except via a miracle. I think Jesus means what he says. It’s impossible for a rich man to enter the kingdom. It’s just as possible as getting a camel through a millimeter size hole. It’s not happening. Except… all things are possible with God.
But of course I do a disservice to this image of a camel, if I don’t talk about what prompted it. There was a young man who came asking about how he could inherit eternal life. Since he was rich – it is very possible that he had inherited everything else – so now he was after riches in the next life. How do I get it? He asks.
As I mentioned last week, the fact that this story follows the story about Jesus saying we must receive the kingdom like a child is telling. The young man says ever since he was a child he has been good. Jesus says, no one is good except God, and that we must all be like a child. Mark’s contrast of images is striking: moral strivings of the upwardly mobile, or the joyous reception of grace as a gift – an unmerited, undeserved, unearned, gift.
I think Fred Craddock is right: “Jesus is calling him to cast aside all other dependencies and in radical trust stand bare before the God who gives. In other words, this is an invitation to discipleship. There is no praise of poverty or an attack on the wealthy… But here stands a person whose life has been defined by wealth, and sadly, he will not accept a new definition of himself – a man rich before God.”
Indeed Jesus doesn’t tell all of his followers to sell all. To Nicodemus, who likely trusted his birth family for salvation, he said be born again. To Peter who didn’t want to follow anyone except his impulses, he said “follow me.” And to the thirsty woman at the well, who thirsted after water and men, he said accept my living water and sin no more. Jesus has a way of saying the hardest thing a person needs to hear.
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