Are You Astonished at His Words?

"And the disciples were greatly astonished at His words..." Mk. 10:24
Jesus had just watched the Rich Young Ruler walk away from His invitation to follow Him. Then, listen to what He tells His disciples: "How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the Kingdom of God..." We should be astonished at these words too. Here in America we call ourselves His disciples, and yet we are so rich. Oh yeah, we are rich. Even the poor in America is richer than most of the rest of the world. If you have a car you are among the top percentage of the rich in the world. We depend on so many other things: cars to take us places; health care; insurance; houses with heat and air conditioning; big box stores to provide us with food. There are so many things that we simply take for granted. Could it be that these are the very things that keep us from truly experiencing the Kingdom of God. Earlier in this chapter Jesus said in order to enter the Kingdom of God we must become like a little child. Think about it. A child is dependant; a child has not ammassed a great deal of material possessions; a child has no daytimer or blackberry to dictate his schedule; a child must trust another to take care of her. Aren't you astonished at His words? Or do they just float over you like so many sermons you have heard in the past? We ought to be challenged by them. But no, we like our stuff. And, we have heard enough messages designed to make us feel better in our state of material comfort. "You can have your stuff," we are told, "as long as your stuff doesn't have you." How do I know if stuff has me or not? I must experience being without it for awhile. But really, what if it was true, that it really is more difficult for a rich man to enter the Kingdom than for a camel to go through the eye of the needle? In the "eye of the needle" only a camel can go through -- anything carried on its back will fall off. The question hangs in the air like dust mites in a sunbeam: Do we really want to enter the Kingdom of God, or are we content to live in the Kingdom of Comfort?