Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:23-26
“The shocked question of the disciples “Who then can be saved?” seems to indicate that they regarded the case of the rich young man not as in any way exceptional, but as typical. For they do not ask: “Which rich man?” but quite generally, “Who then can be saved?” For every man, even the disciples themselves, belongs to those rich ones for whom it is so difficult to enter the kingdom of heaven. The answer Jesus gives showed the disciples that they had understood him well. Salvation through following Jesus is not something we men can achieve for ourselves-but with God all things are possible.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) in The Cost of Discipleship (New York: Macmillan, 1979) 94. Click here to download this classic work.
Many people ignore the command to “go, sell, give, come, and follow Jesus” saying that it only related to the rich man in the scene. But the response of the disciples and other biblical texts says otherwise. It is typical and not exceptional.
Why does it matter? Bonhoeffer is teaching us, obedience becomes belief by letting go. Then paradoxically, God resupplies one hundred times more it says in the text, if we continued reading.
This book leans into the cost of discipleship. What we discover is unfathomable gain, but only if we are willing to pay the price. How is God speaking to you this week? What does obedience look like or need to look like for you?