Jesus uses the smallest opening he can think of to make a point about riches. In all three of the first Gospels he says, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” He says it right after a wealthy man walked away sad, and the disciples ask who then can be saved. The saying is meant to startle, and it does. Christians read it differently, some as a warning about trusting wealth, others as a reminder that salvation is God’s doing. Mark 10 tells the whole scene most fully.
3 verses
And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
Matthew George Easton, 1897
Used only in the proverb, “to pass through a needle’s eye” (Matt. 19:24; Mark 10:25; Luke 18:25). Some interpret the expression as referring to the side gate, close to the principal gate, usually called the “eye of a needle” in the East; but it is rather to be taken literally. The Hebrew females were skilled in the use of the needle (Ex. 28:39; 26:36; Judg. 5:30).