SPEAKER_00: Yesterday a rich man walked away from Jesus' side.
SPEAKER_00: Today the disciples are still trying to understand what just happened.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus looks at them and says, It's easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: And the disciples are stunned.
SPEAKER_00: Who then can be saved?
SPEAKER_00: That may be one of the best questions anyone could ever ask Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Who then can be saved?
SPEAKER_00: Because beneath that question is something every one of us eventually has to discover.
SPEAKER_00: I cannot save myself.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to the first reading.
SPEAKER_00: The Prince of Tyre has become enormously well, very successful.
SPEAKER_00: He's intelligent, power, influential, and slowly something happens inside of him.
SPEAKER_00: His success begins to deceive him.
SPEAKER_00: He says A God am I.
SPEAKER_00: And God answers him with a devastating simplicity.
SPEAKER_00: You are a man and not a god.
SPEAKER_00: That is not God humiliating him.
SPEAKER_00: That is God telling him the truth.
SPEAKER_00: You are not God.
SPEAKER_00: And neither are we.
SPEAKER_00: We know this intellectually, but I'm sure we always live a different way.
SPEAKER_00: Because every time I believe that everything depends upon me, every time I need to control every single outcome, control the narrative, every time I think my plans must prevail, every time I begin to believe that my accomplishments make me secure, I start occupying a throne that does not belong to me.
SPEAKER_00: And sooner or later life reminds me you are not God.
SPEAKER_00: A diagnosis can remind you.
SPEAKER_00: A phone call in the middle of the night can remind you.
SPEAKER_00: A relationship you cannot repair, a child you cannot protect from every suffering, a problem you cannot solve will always remind you.
SPEAKER_00: There are moments when our intelligence, money, connections, planning, and strength simply cannot fix what's in front of us.
SPEAKER_00: Perhaps that's why Jesus' answer today is so important.
SPEAKER_00: The disciples ask, Who then can be saved?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, For men this is impossible, but for God all things are possible.
SPEAKER_00: That sentence is not just about money, it is about salvation.
SPEAKER_00: Christianity is not a self-improvement program.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus Christ did not come simply to make people good, a little bit better, friendlier.
SPEAKER_00: No, he came to save us.
SPEAKER_00: And salvation begins when I finally stop pretending that I can be my own Savior.
SPEAKER_00: That's the danger of wealth that Jesus is warning about.
SPEAKER_00: Money itself is not evil, but wealth can create a very convincing illusion.
SPEAKER_00: I have enough, I'm secure, I can take care of myself, I don't need anyone.
SPEAKER_00: And eventually, without ever saying the words out loud, I can begin living as though I don't really need God.
SPEAKER_00: That's the Prince of Tyre.
SPEAKER_00: A God am I.
SPEAKER_00: And that's why Peter's next words matter so much.
SPEAKER_00: He says, We've given up everything and followed you.
SPEAKER_00: Peter's not saying, look how impressive we are.
SPEAKER_00: No, he's describing the opposite of the Prince of Tyre.
SPEAKER_00: The Prince says, Look what I have built.
SPEAKER_00: Peter says, Look what we've left behind.
SPEAKER_00: The prince clings to what makes him powerful.
SPEAKER_00: Peter has begun to discover that discipleship requires empty hands.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus promises him something extraordinary.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever is surrender for his sake is not ultimately lost.
SPEAKER_00: It's transformed.
SPEAKER_00: It is returned in ways Peter cannot yet imagine.
SPEAKER_00: And then Jesus says, Many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.
SPEAKER_00: Because the kingdom turns our measurements upside down.
SPEAKER_00: The world will say you're blessed when you need nobody.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says you're blessed when you know how to desperately depend upon God.
SPEAKER_00: The world says accumulate as much as you can.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, surrender.
SPEAKER_00: The world says establish yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Look out for number one.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, follow me.
SPEAKER_00: The world says, become powerful enough that nothing can touch you.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, become humble enough to let God save you.
SPEAKER_00: So maybe today the question is not, do I have too much?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe the deeper question is, where have I stopped needing God?
SPEAKER_00: Where have I stopped becoming so capable, so comfortable, so successful, so accustomed to managing things myself that prayer has quietly become optional.
SPEAKER_00: Because eventually every one of us encounters something we cannot fix.
SPEAKER_00: And strangely enough, that moment can become grace.
SPEAKER_00: The moment when you finally say, Lord, I can't do this.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus says, I know.
SPEAKER_00: But you can.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, Yes, I will take care of it.
SPEAKER_00: That's Christianity.
SPEAKER_00: Not that I become strong enough to save myself, not that I become good enough to earn heaven, but that I finally become humble enough to receive only what God can give me.
SPEAKER_00: For men, this is impossible.
SPEAKER_00: Thank God that sentence does not end there.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, but for God, all things are possible.
SPEAKER_00: So get off the throne.
SPEAKER_00: You were never meant to sit there.
SPEAKER_00: Let God be God and let Him save you.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.