Impossible
“With God all things are possible.”
It’s a great line from today’s Gospel. One of my favorites. Tailor-made for social media.
But what does it really mean? Here’s the set up – Jesus tells His disciples, “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.”
Their response? “That’s impossible!”
Jesus tells them, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Why does the context matter? Because this isn’t about you or me doing something that we think is important, and then trying to prop it up by claiming God’s promise.
Because the promise is about doing the will of God.
The example of the rich person isn’t about wealth being bad. It’s about the risk that always come with wealth – the dangers of losing perspective, getting too attached to it, and letting it become your idol.
It’s also about the fact that spiritual struggles are part of everyone’s lives. Even for people whose lives look easy (from the outside).
Jesus’s point is that spiritual struggles are hard. So hard, that they can seem impossible.
Where does God’s promise fit in all that?
God’s promise fits in when we’re trying to do God’s will in our life. When we’re trying to put God first. When we’re trying to let God lead.
That’s hard. Because sometimes God is going to call us to do things that we don’t understand, that (from our limited human perspective) don’t make sense.
The thing is, when we do – when we step out in faith, following God’s call, not trying to figure it all out in advance? That’s when God shows forth in our lives in ways that we could never imagine. That’s where lives are changed and the miraculous happens.
That is where God’s promise fits in. God’s got this, even if we don’t understand it.
“Unless you are willing to do the ridiculous, God will not do the miraculous. When you have God, you don’t have to know everything about it; you just do it.” – Mother Angelica
Today’s Readings
