Who Then Can Be Saved?
23 Jesus said to his disciples, “Most certainly I say to you, a rich man will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven with difficulty. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter into God’s Kingdom.” 25 When the disciples heard it, they were exceedingly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” 26 Looking at them, Jesus said, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” 27 Then Peter answered, “Behold, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” 28 Jesus said to them, “Most certainly I tell you that you who have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on the throne of his glory, you also will sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 Everyone who has left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive one hundred times, and will inherit eternal life. 30 But many will be last who are first, and first who are last.
A camel, a needle, and a question the disciples ask in shock — answered by taking the matter out of human hands entirely.
Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter into God’s Kingdom.”
The saying is in the earlier account Mark 10:1–31. The camel was the largest animal in the country and the needle's eye the smallest opening anyone handled daily, and attempts to soften the picture into a low gate or a piece of rope miss what the disciples plainly heard. They heard impossible.
When the disciples heard it, they were exceedingly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?”
The astonishment needs explaining to modern readers. They assumed that prosperity was a mark of God's favor — a reasonable reading of parts of the older Scriptures — so a rich man was the likeliest candidate, not the unlikeliest. If he cannot get in, nobody can. Their question is the right conclusion from what they have just been told.
Looking at them, Jesus said, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
The first half is conceded rather than corrected. It is impossible — for the rich man and for everyone else — and salvation is relocated out of the category of human achievement altogether. That is the answer to the young man's opening question about what good thing to do, given after he has gone.
Then Peter answered, “Behold, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?”
Peter's question is the natural one and it is not rebuked, though it is asked in the accounting voice the rich man used. They did do what the young man would not.
"You also will sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel" Matthew 19:28. The promise is Matthew's, and it is dated to the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on the throne of his glory — the renewal of all things, not this life. What Peter asked for in the present is answered in the future, which is where this Gospel consistently puts the settlement Matthew 16:27.
Everyone who has left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive one hundred times, and will inherit eternal life.
The promise widens past the twelve to anyone, and the return is described as a hundredfold rather than a repayment.
But many will be last who are first, and first who are last.
The chapter ends on a warning aimed at the men who have just been promised thrones, and the next thing out of his mouth is a parable about wages.
settled What this mark means