-----Original Message----- From: lbo-talk-admin at lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-admin at lbo-talk.org] On Behalf Of bgramlich at runbox.com
Well Jesus had another message, "Go sell everything you have and give to the poor. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
** Wasn't that because there was an entrance archway into Jerusalem (circa 27-33 CE) loosely called the "eye of the needle?" It wasn't tough to get a camel through but it was tough to get a packed camel through. Someone correct me if this is an urban legend.
** Remember that parable about the mustard seed? (starts small and grows big... the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, etc.). Well, as most farmers of the time knew - the mustard seed was a weed to be extinguished. It destroyed crops and was a nuisance. Now, if Jesus said the kingdom of heaven was a mustard seed that means the kingdom of heaven is a contagious plague that will destroy the existing crops. The Romans did, perhaps, have something to worry about? Of course this meaning has been lost - and now the parable is interpreted to mean that faith starts small and gets big. Blah, boring stuff really.
ken