Camels and Needles - Again

Okay. So yesterday I quoted Eugene Boring on the hard saying of Jesus, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God."

So, no there was no gate in Jerusalem called "Eye of a Needle".

Here is another quotation debunking this explanation:

"There never was such a gate in Jerusalem. The interpretation clearly is designed to make the hard word of Jesus more acceptable. Even more interesting than this new interpretation itself, is the question why it has remained so popular." (Ulrich Luz, Matthew, vol. 2, p. 51ff)

One of the most important contributions of Luz to New Testament interpretation was his interest in the history of the effects of a text on its readers, and in how a text has been and is used, preached and applied through the ages.

So why has an obviously false interpretation of Jesus' saying been allowed to persist in countless sermons, despite there being no evidence whatsoever for such a convenient weakening of Jesus' words?

THAT, is a good question. 

Comments

[Dave Summers]

Apart from the human desire to find loopholes (large enough for camels to pass through, or otherwise), it betrays a perception of a Jesus who had no sense of humour and no dramatic expression. I don't find that Jesus in the Gospels.