From the Rector…
On our trip to the Holy Land several years ago, we had the opportunity to visit the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, the traditional site of Jesus’ birth. Inside the church, there is a small opening in the floor through which pilgrims can look down and see the place believed to be his birthplace. One after another, people kneel, peer through the opening, and offer quiet reverence for this sacred place. As moving as that experience was, it was the doorway into the church that captivated me even more.
To enter the church, you must stoop. The entrance is a small rectangular opening that allows only one person through at a time. But when you step back, you notice that it wasn’t always this way. The original entrance was enormous—more like a gate than a door. It was tall enough for a giraffe to walk through with room to spare and wide enough for two or three elephants standing side by side. Later, a second doorway was built about half that size. It is a beautiful stone arch through which several people could have entered comfortably without ducking their heads. Today, however, both of those entrances have been filled in, leaving only the tiny rectangular opening cut into the masonry.
The moment I saw the church and its three doorways, I immediately thought of Jesus’ words in Matthew: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:24). Not because of Jesus’ comments about wealth, but because of the doorway’s size. It is even called “the Eye of the Needle.” (Though this door would not have existed in Jesus’ day.)
Standing there, I found myself wondering why the entrance had become smaller over the centuries. The answer, most likely, was security. The caretakers of the Church of the Nativity were not trying to keep pilgrims out; they were trying to control access. By narrowing the entrance, they could better protect both the church and those who came to worship. That realization caused me to hear Jesus’ words differently.
For most of my life, I have read this passage primarily as a warning about wealth. Certainly, Jesus recognizes that riches can become a spiritual obstacle. But I wonder if his point is less about actual gates and more about wealth as a distraction from God.
Wealth has a way of convincing us that we are self-sufficient. It tempts us to trust in our own resources rather than in God’s provision. Financial security can give us the illusion that we control our future, when in reality our lives have always rested in God’s hands. We begin to rely more on our own strength than on God’s grace.
I wonder if Jesus’ image of the camel and the eye of the needle is less about keeping certain people out of the kingdom and more about inviting all of us to lay down whatever burdens keep us from depending on God. Whether those burdens are wealth, pride, fear, or the illusion of control, they must be set aside before we can pass through.
Entering the Church of the Nativity requires a bit of stooping. There is something beautifully fitting about that. We enter the place where Christ came into the world by bowing low. Perhaps the kingdom of God is entered the same way—not through self-sufficiency, but through humility, dependence, and trust. It may require us to stoop a little, but what awaits on the other side is more than worth the effort.
Light and Life,
Candice+