Mosaic Teaching 142 - Mark 10:22-30; Matthew 19:28-20:15

Mosaic is an in-depth teaching discovering Jesus through all four of the Gospel accounts in the Bible. This teaching is led by Rev. Dr. Chad Foster, reaching into the Hebraic roots, Jewish roots, Torah references and messianic fulfillment of Jesus to find truth and life.

Teaching PDFs and Mosaic Audio at: https://immlutheran.org/mosaic/

Purchase Dr. Chad's books at: immlutheran.org/books

#immlutheran #drchadfoster #christian #lcms #messianic

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the Mosaic Teaching Service today. This is teaching number 142. Uh, in our course, going through the four gospels, the narrative, the life, the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Today we're gonna be finding ourselves in a couple of locations, primarily in the Gospel of Mark chapter 10, but also in Matthew's Gospel, uh, chapter 19. Uh, we'll be finishing up a little bit in Mark chapter 10 with a Jesus dialogue with the uh what is often called the rich young ruler, uh, and uh how that uh ended up going and still filling out a little bit of that that first century context that helps us better understand that conversation, uh, as we did last week and we'll continue to do this week, and then where uh the again Jesus being on this kind of journey, uh, if you will, from uh the the regions of the Galilee and traveling through uh that area, gathering the entourage, getting everything ready to go up to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover for the final time in his earthly life. And so as he's doing so, not only is he encountering uh individuals and having these conversations with them, but he's also having many opportunities to uh impart discipleship lessons to his closest followers. He is preparing them uh for what will inevitably come their way when they are in Jerusalem. And we will not get to it this week, but we will get oh so close. And when we resume Mosaic, we will definitely get to it, which will be the third time that he expressly, very specifically and you know, straightforward directly tells his disciples about his upcoming suffering, betrayal, and death. Uh so far he's done that twice and both times it has met with confusion uh and just unsettling with his disciples, and so he's going to do this for a third time because in the gospels and in the Bible for that matter, uh lots of important things tend to happen in threes, uh, and this would be no exception to that. So that's kind of where things are flowing and where we're at. But let's uh now uh bow our heads and we'll get started with prayer. Let's pray. Blessed Lord, who has caused all holy scriptures to be written for our learning, and grant that we would so hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, so that by patience and comfort of your holy word we would embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given to us in our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. In Mosaic, value our Bibles, love our Bibles, always encourage you to bring a Bible with you to the Mosaic Teaching Service. But if you need one today, not a problem at all, just grab one in the pew or the chair around you. And if you need to make that your Bible, just accept that as a gift from us to you. But if you will, take a Bible, hold it up, and please repeat after me. This is my Bible. Jesus is who it says He is. I am what it says I am. I can do what it says I can do. Today I will be taught the Word of God. My mind is alert. By God's grace, my heart is receptive. The Bible is the incorruptible, indestructible, ever-living Word of God. My encounter with the Bible today will transform and grow my faith. And we say together, in Jesus' name, Amen. So let's open up our Bibles to the Gospel of Mark, the second of the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and open up to chapter 10 and verse 21. Again, kind of bringing to a conclusion uh the dialogue Jesus has had with this sincere, uh, very obvious Pharisee, but well-intentioned Pharisee, as we've seen. He wasn't a Pharisee trying to catch Jesus in his words or trap him. Uh, and we're gonna unpack a little more about what type of Pharisee this individual was and where he fits in to put better into context why he's asking the questions that he is. But just as a quick review where we're coming from and where his question was about uh originally to Jesus, uh, about uh what he must do to have eternal life, um, and he approaches Jesus, you know, that Jesus is um good and so forth. We we looked at that first century context playing off the word good when Jesus says, Why do you call me good? Because in the first century, that phrase good or the good referred not only to God, God the Father, but it also referred to the scriptures. And so ultimately what Jesus was getting at in his response to this individual was, you don't need anything else for eternal life than what you have already been given. You've been given what is good, you've been given the word of God. Uh and then we kind of looked at that in comparison to uh the parable about uh the rich man and Lazarus, the rich man who finds himself uh in after he passes away and he's in the place of kind of torment, and he asked Abraham, he sees across the chasm, and he asked Abraham, please, you know, if you can't let me go back to tell my brothers who are alive, let me get some kind of message to my brothers to wake them up so that they don't end up in the same position that I am in. And Abraham's, you know, response is they already have Moses and the law and the prophets. They've already been given everything that they need. In fact, even if someone rises from the dead, it's not going to change their mind or their thought. In other words, they've already been given everything that's sufficient in the word of God. Um, because that was really ultimately what this individual was looking for. He thought he had already kind of mastered the word of God. He thought he'd already studied it from beginning to end. He thought he had the PhD in theology when he talks about that he had observed the commandments and so forth. He didn't mean it in the sense that he had never sinned. Uh, he didn't mean that at all. He would have certainly known that he had failed at some point. What he meant was, I know what it says. I am an expert in it. I've studied it my whole life, I know it inside and out, and yet there's got to be more. I'm a young man. So what else is there, good rabbi? And Jesus says, saying, There is no more else, and trust me, uh, you haven't mastered it, right? No matter how well you think you know the scriptures, or no matter how well you think you know God, um, you don't always know it all, right? And so Jesus was giving him that kind of reminder. And then he comes back, and that's where we're kind of picking it up today, and he says, Well, you know, what do I really kind of he kind of pushes it? Um, you know, what do I need? And so Jesus finally obliges and says Um what we're gonna see today, and then we're gonna talk about why Jesus would respond that way in its first century context, what he's getting at, and what the particular individual was really asking for, and we'll even see that it still exists in a modern sense today. All right, so with that, let's look at the Gospel of Mark, chapter 10, verse 21. Let's read this verse together. He said to him, One thing you lack, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. So again, the rich young ruler, as he's often called, but this young man who had come to Jesus, who Jesus had looked at with affection, remember, and loved, uh, this young man who had given his life to the study of Scripture, the love of God, love of the Word of God, uh, still kept pressing Jesus. And so, not satisfied with that simple answer of keep the commandments, which again in the context of the first century world meant know the word of God, the word of God is sufficient. Um you already have everything you need in the Bible. Uh follow what the scriptures say. The young man remained pressing, and he said uh in Matthew's version, Matthew 19, verse 20, What must I do to inherit eternal life? Uh Matthew's version has the man further ask, What am I still lacking? Right? So he's apparently why he's coming to Jesus is even after getting his PhD in theology, even after dedicating his whole life to this point to all things God, all things scripture, uh, living the religious life, he still feels something is missing, and that's what he's asking Jesus. What's missing? Rabbi Liechtenstein points out that the rich young man's response is very similar to the type of presumptuous and self-righteous Pharisee that the Talmud itself actually criticizes. Um, the Talmud actually identifies seven different types of Pharisees, uh, seven different kinds of schools or focuses that Pharisees tended to have. And one was the type that was so convinced of their credibility, their, for lack of a better term, their righteousness, that is, their ability to know things and uh to be the leaders of the society in religious matters, that they felt that they kind of already been there and done that with all things religion. And so, because of that, they felt they already knew all of the right answers, and so they were at a loss for what else they should be doing in life. Uh, and here's actually a quote uh from Tractate Sota uh that reflects that. There is the Pharisee who asks, What is my duty so that I may do it? As if he thought he had fulfilled every obligation already. And that pretty much describes exactly the individual Jesus is encountering, this type of Pharisee who, even from giving them the benefit of the doubt, giving them that they have good intentions, feels as if, right, um, uh, even if they don't mean it in an egotistical, arrogant way, feels that they kind of know everything, right? It's like, again, trying to tell uh, you know, someone who has uh a PhD in mathematics, trying to come to them and say, Hey, have you heard this new theory or this, have you ever heard about this theorem in mathematics? And they're like, Yeah, of course I've heard about it, right? You know, and then you know there's nothing that interests them anymore, right? So they they're they're always going around going, what is it that I'm supposed to do so that I can do it? I want to do it, I want to know more. What am I lacking? Who who knows more than me that can fill me in? Uh, as if they have already done everything. And so, in a similar manner, this rich young man believed that in many ways that he had already figured everything out, but he still felt there must be something else. Of course, he did not claim that he has done everything without fault. Sinless righteousness is not in view in this discussion. And no Pharisee ever believed they were without sin. At the same time, one can never claim to have fulfilled every obligation. So the young man sought something more than just scripture. He sought what was known as an act of zechut. And I have that written down for you, Z-E-C-H-U-T. Uh, an act of zechut. That is this exceptionally good act that would merit some kind of eternal reward for the one who performed it. Not so much just like salvation, but that it would almost like from like a first century Pharisaical view, that in the world to come, you know, after you leave this world and you take your place in the world to come, that there's going to be like hierarchies based upon how well you did in this world. And so you could start kind of storing up your treasury there. And so a zechut was something you could do in this world that really wouldn't have a whole lot of merit in this world, but would be kind of banking it in the world to come. That's really what he was asking Jesus, right? Kind of like, I've got this world figured out, right? I know the things to do in this world, right? I know not to steal and not to commit adultery and not to murder, uh, I know to honor the Sabbath, I know to worship, I know how to treat my neighbor, I know how to be a good citizen, I know how to do, I know how I've got this world figured out. So I need to stumulating zachut. I need to start working towards what is what I'm gonna be in the world to come. So what do I need to start doing now for then? Okay, so it's similar in some ways to the idea of uh penance, performing some kind of meritorious deed over and above the letter of the law. So it's like, I know what I'm supposed to do here, so how can I even be better at it? How can I like be one beyond it? In Jewish thought, a person's zekhut placed him in good standing with heaven, and that God would be inclined, therefore, more readily to answer their prayers based upon, well, you know, you're praying and your prayer goes up to God, and God looks at your little treasury, your bank account of Zekhut, and it's like, wow, you've got a really large balance there. Like, yeah, you need you can go ahead and make a withdrawal. And so, you know, I'm gonna answer that prayer a little bit quicker, or I'm gonna be a little more favorably disposed to you because I mean your bank account up here, your Zekhut account is getting quite massive. Um, here is a a story from the Talmud that kind of describes this belief, all right? And again, Jesus is, of course, and obviously challenging this belief, but this is this is the belief uh that Jesus is challenging. And here's a story. This is from uh Tractate Tainit. It says, A certain donkey driver appeared before the rabbis and prayed for rain, and rain came ending a drought. And the rabbis sent and brought him and said to him, What is your trade? And he said to them, I'm a donkey driver. And they said to him, And how do you conduct your business? And he said to them, One time I rented my donkey to a certain woman, and she was weeping on the way, and I said to her, What is wrong with you? And she said to me, My husband is in prison for debt, and I wanted to see what I can do to free him. And so I sold my donkey and gave her the proceeds, and said to her, Here is the money, go free your husband, but do not sin by becoming a prostitute to raise the necessary funds. And so they said to him, You are worthy of praying and having your prayers answered, because you have Zachut. You see, because he had done this great and noble act above and beyond anything expected of him, he had this, and so his prayers were more readily answered. So Zakut is not quite the same as earning one's salvation by good's works. Instead, acts of loving kindness do express true repentance, do express a true love of God. Um, the rich young man wanted to acquire this act, which would guarantee this standing in the kingdom, not only now, but in the world to come. And so, in some ways, Jesus acquiesces, but he does so in a way that makes his point that this isn't the really the route you want to go. It is interesting, though, um, that I have encountered the same spirit um just this past week. Uh as uh Passover is coming, yeah. As many of you know, I have a whole lot of friends in Israel and in contact with them on a regular basis. And a lot of times uh if if they've come to visit and so forth, you know, they keep kosher, and so if they come and visit, I want to honor that. And so uh I'll have kosher things for them. And I remember the first time one person came to visit me, and I said, Look, you know, uh you know, we're gonna have this for dinner, and I said, everything's kosher, and I showed him the ingredients and I showed them the certification of the back that things were kosher and all that, and he laughed. And he laughed. And he's like, and he's like, and I was like, what? I was like, these this is kosher, right? I was like, it has the big K on it, and he laughed, and he's like, I don't eat anything with the big K on it, right? And I'm like, what are you talking about? He's like, he's like, technically that is kosher, but it's lenient kosher, right? I mean in other words, it technically fulfills it, but he will only eat it if it's got a circle with a U inside the circle, because that's more stringent. In other words, it does things that is beyond what's required. Like, in other words, decay is good enough. It's biblical, it's everything a rabbi would want, but the O and the U says, yeah, but we do even more, right? And he's like, I go with that. I'm like, oh, and this this particular passage, I'm like, this is the rich young ruler, right? He's wanting what like what's the one more? And another classic example of this that is happening now is um, how many of you have ever seen matzah in it in the square form? Like squares, right? It's probably how you've seen. If you've ever seen matzah you've probably seen the squares, right? My friend would be like, ha, I will not eat square matzah. And I'm like, it literally says kosher for Passover, right? And and it even has O U. No, no, it's gotta be glot, G-L-A-T-T. His has to be a circle matzah, because the circle matza that's glot and all of that means that someone literally has been watching the process since the wheat has been picked and ground and the since the water has been gathered to form the fly. I mean, every just everything you can imagine. It's been watched. This, of course, makes a little circle this big cost like 90 bucks because like someone has watched it since it has been planted in the ground as a seed until it's been produced, that it never has been within like 200 feet of anything leaven, right? But it that's not what's required. But it's over and above. It's a zut, right? It's gonna earn more merit because not only are you scrupulous, but you're extra scrupulous, right? And so Jesus is like, okay. If that's how you want to play it, we'll play it that way. And so Jesus says. Again, obliging. You want you want a zakud? Alright, I'll give you one. Matthew 19, verse 21. If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. And come follow me. Alright? So Jesus, of course, being able to know the hearts and minds of individuals, is like, huh? You really want to know where to work on yourself, my friend? I know exactly where you need to work on yourself, my friend. You aren't complete and you aren't whole, and you do not know yourself as well as you think you know yourself. You want what you say you want? Then, oh rich young ruler, let's remove the rich part of your title, your description, and then become my disciple. Now, this is not to say that Jesus is saying this is the way to eternal life. Of course, Jesus is not saying that. Jesus is making a point to this individual. He's not saying, hey, the way to eternal life is to sell everything and give it to the poor. Jesus has already stated to the man that eternal life is to be sought by the means of faithfulness to the word of God, the one thing that is good, the word of God and God Himself. Only when he was pressed further for something more did Jesus say, Hey, if you want more, I'll give you more. The giving away of material possessions to the needy was a prime instance of an act of Zikut. And Jesus also invited the rich young man to turn his zeal for Zakut into his zeal for discipleship. Come follow me is the invitation to become a disciple. Before he would accept the man into the fellowship of the disciples, Jesus asked him to sell all he had and give his proceeds to the poor. And why did he ask so much of this man when in the case of other disciples, he didn't? He had just said to them, Come and follow me. Apparently, the possession of great wealth precluded the possibility of discipleship for this young man. His affluence made it impossible for him to set aside all else and literally to walk after Jesus. Life could not be so simple for him. And so he went away sad, unable to follow the rabbi. The cost of discipleship, at least at this point, was too high. And so it says in verse 22 of Matthew 19 when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving. He went away sad, for he was one who owned much property. Now, I won't get into it here, but if you want to find it in the archives in my course, The Chronicles of the Apostles, this guy does make a comeback. And he does do what Jesus asks him to do. And he does finally get a name in the book of Acts. And he becomes a major, major player in the early church and the post-resurrection movement of Jesus. He does sell everything he owns, and he pretty much funds the early church movement. And you can find proof of that by everything going on in Matthew 19 with the words used and the words and how he's described in Matthew 19. So I just tease you with that, right? He goes away sad for now. But he does do it. I want you to know that he does do it. And he comes back and he gets mentioned in the book of Acts. But let's keep going in this story. So for now, he goes away sad. Let's quit back into Mark's gospel. Mark chapter 10, verse 25. Let's read this verse together. 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. So this is Jesus' response. And I have, you can see there, the word camel kind of highlighted for us to consider, because we're going to talk about that particular word in a little bit, because Jesus is doing a word play there. He's also interacting with some rabbinical teachings of his period. So this particular verse is interacting with first century culture more than you think it is. So as the rich young man went away sad for now, Jesus looked around at his disciples and exclaimed, How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God. Jesus' words shocked his disciples. In their eyes, in the first century world, wealth may have indicated God's blessing on a person, right? They were wealthy because God was blessing them. And the wealthy did amazing things like give charity. They sustained synagogues, they sustained the academies of the sages, they made generous donations to the temple, they underwrote the expensive sacrifices for those who were less fortunate, the wealthy had leisure to study the Torah and the scriptures. Why then was it so difficult for them to enter into the kingdom? If the rich who give charity, who study scripture, who support synagogue and temple, if they find it difficult to enter, who then can enter? The disciples were amazed at Jesus' words, but Jesus emphatically repeated the sentiment again in verses 24 and 25 of Mark 10. Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God. It is enter is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. And so, like the shock disciples, Bible interpreters have worried over these words for a very long time. An apocryphal Christian explanation favored by preachers explains that the eye of the needle was apparently a small pedestrian gate in the large double doors of city gates. You can see some of them, like in Jerusalem's gate today at Jaffa Gate. When the city gates closed at night, pedestrians could still access the city through a smaller door, but the camel could not pass through the so-called eye of the needle unless the driver got off the camel, unpacked all of the luggage, and the camel had to crawl through on its knees while lowered. So this is an image of the so-called eye of the needle. This is actually in the city of Nazareth. So you can see the big city gate. It's closed like at nighttime, but you can see the tiny little door that humans can go in, like security, right? This is a security. The only way a camel's getting through that bad boy, right, is if you take everything off of that camel, get the camel on its knees, and pretty much shove it through there, right? But the camel isn't going to just barrel through there, right? You're going to slow down, right? It was a security measure. It was an intentional traffic jam causer, all right? And so many people said that was the eye of the needle, that it's difficult but not impossible. The only problem with this explanation is there are no evidence, there's no evidence that this type of city gate existed in the first century. They come much, much later. They come in the Middle Ages and beyond. And so it doesn't hold a lot of weight for the explanation. The reality is, is the eye of a needle in the days of the disciples, well, it wasn't really much different than the eye of the needle in our day and age. Just large enough to pass a thread through it, but absolutely no possibility for a camel passing through it. Now, part of this is rabbinic hyperbole. It's classic, not only for rabbis, it's classic for a lot of types of speeches and speakers to purposely use hyperbole to draw the listener in and so forth. Just as the English idiom when pigs fly or when hell freezes over means that the things in question will never happen. It's like saying it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. In the Talmud and in other rabbinic teachings of the ages of the time, the same idiom was used to describe seemingly impossible things, but sometimes instead of a camel going through the eye of a needle, they spoke of trying to squeeze an elephant through the eye of a needle. For instance, it says, Rabbah pointed out that one does not dream of things outside of one's experience of reality. Thus, one does not dream of an elephant going through the eye of a needle. Or in another place, the Talmud criticizes the methodologies employed by one school of thought, calling their interpretations drawing an elephant through the eye of a needle. That is to say, not really realistic. But I do believe something else is going on here in the language. I do believe Jesus is doing a play on words in his native language of Aramaic. I think that's what he's doing here. And I think it speaks very well to the concept of what's happening as well as some of the other rabbinic teachings of the time. Imagine for a moment, sitting around a table, ancient and worn, and you're listening to Jesus speak words that seem impossible. Maybe even though a little humorous. You hear him say, 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. We let our imaginations run wild with the picture of a lumbering camel and the impossibility of that feat. But now let's linger on the other possibility of what Jesus was doing with his language. The whisper from his Aramaic. Aramaic speakers would have heard this word. Gamla. Gamla means camel in Aramaic. But it's also the word for a thick rope. Right? Some languages, including English, B-A-S-S. Am I talking about a fish? Or am I talking about a type of guitar? Spelt the same, right? Same kind of thing. Languages have them. Gamla is one of these words in Aramaic. It can mean camel or it can mean a thick rope. The kind of rope that fishermen use. Tough and substantial, but obviously too large to pass through the eye of a needle. And now you begin to say, oh, it's making a little more sense now, right? Instead of using a small piece of thread to go through the eye of a needle, it's like taking a rope to go through the eye of a needle. Still not going to work, but at least you're now kind of thread and rope, right? You're at least in the same genre, right? Okay. So as you picture that rope in your hands, think about its purpose. The rope is made for strength, it's made for holding things together. In many ways, it's a comforting image, reminding us of the ways we wind together our resources, our abilities, even our pride and achievements into one thick cord. What is a rope? It's lots of pieces of thread, right? Woven together into one thick, strong piece of cord. And we feel secure, we feel strong. But faced with the challenge Jesus offers, entering the kingdom, squeezing it through the needle's eye, suddenly that security, that strength of the rope is holding us back. The rope like our riches, the rope like our self-reliance, the rope like our strength, it's too much to fit. In other words, what he was trying to make the point to the rich young ruler, that's not what's going to get you into the kingdom of God. But what if you took that rope and you unraveled it and you spent all of that work unraveling that rope? What would you have? You would have a thread, right? And what could you do then? You could pass it through the eye of a needle. And so you can get that rope, that thick rope, you can get it through the eye of a needle. How? By unraveling it, right? By slowly twisting apart the strands. You take one single fiber, small and vulnerable, and you guide it through the eye of a needle. It wouldn't be as strong by itself, it wouldn't draw the attention of anyone walking by it, but it would be just enough, just enough to work through to the other side. Jesus' words through the lens of this Aramaic play on the word gamla, camel and rope, invite us into a kind of spiritual unraveling. Maybe this is what happens when we begin to see our wealth or our egos or our tight grip on control when we see it being loosened by the Holy Spirit. God calls us to trust in Him enough to let go of it all, to let go of the control, to let go of the ego, to let go of the prestige, to let go of the desire to have to be right. Unwind all of that, unwind everything that the world says is secure. Also that we could become small, humble, and even ordinary and basic by the world's standards, because that is exactly what God needs for us to be in order to work with. And that's exactly what God needed that rich young ruler to become in order for him to enter into the kingdom of heaven. So, what does your rope look like right now? What is wound so tightly that it's keeping you from passing through the eye of the needle? Keeping you from placing your faith, your trust, and your total dependence upon God and God's grace alone. Listen for the invitation to let him unravel what you think you need, so that what you truly need, his grace, his love, his forgiveness, his possibility, it all can be yours. Remember the promise he speaks to his disciples' anxious hearts, Mark 10, verse 27. With men it is impossible, but not with God, for with God all things are possible. Letting go, letting go of having to be right, letting go of your ego, letting go of control, letting go of your riches is never easy. But the good news is that God is the one who does the impossible. So whether it's a camel or a rope, whether it's a gamla or a gamla, whatever seems like it can never fit in God's hands, the most unlikely things can in fact enter the kingdom, including the rich young ruler. So then his disciples respond, Mark 10, verse 26. Let's read this together. But again, they were still astonished and said to one another, Then who can be saved? So Jesus declared it a major challenge for a person wrapped in wealth, wrapped in ego, wrapped in prestige, wrapped in control, wrapped in the things that the world values, that it's a challenge for them to enter the kingdom. So his disciples said with dismay, well, then who can it be saved? Like who can overcome this? And that was ultimately what Jesus' point for all of this is. No one can! Right? With men, this is impossible. But with God, all things are possible. The poor man has less difficulty, not just poor physically, but the poor in spirit. They have less difficulty seeing the kingdom first because they have little to lose. Those constricted by the world, they have a great deal to lose, and they have little need for the kingdom. In one way or another, we're all like the rich young ruler who went away sad. Each of us possesses elements, he or she is unable to surrender to the Messiah. And in one way or another, each one of us ultimately will disqualify ourselves on our own merit from inheriting the kingdom. From humanity's perspective, entering the kingdom is indeed more difficult than passing through a camel, passing through the eye of a needle. It is impossible. But again, with God, all things are possible. Man cannot achieve eternal life and entrance into the kingdom without God's divine intervention, without God's grace, without God's action on our behalf. And the Midrash Rabbah says that if a human being will open just a tiny door of repentance, literally no bigger than the eye of a needle, God accepts it. And here again Jesus interacting with the teaching of the day. This is from the Midrash Rabbah. The Holy One, blessed be he, said to Israel, My sons, if you will give me an opening of repentance no bigger than the size of the eye of a needle, I will widen it into the openings through which wagons and carriages, dare we say, camels, can pass. Man cannot draw a camel through the eye of a needle, but with God all things are possible. So repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. Amen. I think that'll be a good spot to stop, especially with our two-week hiatus coming with Holy Week and Resurrection Sunday coming up. So we will close there. Hopefully that gives you some food for thought, uh, especially how to handle the camel going through the eye of a needle. Hopefully, you have a different perspective on that. And gives you something to think about even from a devotional perspective this week. You know, maybe get maybe cut yourself off a foot-long piece of a thick rope and set it out on your desk or something and look at that and think, where am I kind of like that rope, all wound up tight? That's never gonna fit through the eye of a needle. Maybe even put a needle there. But the reality is that rope can go through that eye of a needle if you unwind it. Right? Repentance, stripping yourself bare of ego and control, right? The work of the Holy Spirit, the work of God on you. That rope can go through that needle. Gamina. All right.