By Thomas Prislac
Matthew 19 verses 16 to 30, King James Version
16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
20 The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?
21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.
22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
23 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.
24 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.
25 When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?
26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
27 Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?
28 And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
29 And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.
30 But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.
Supplementary reading: Mark 10 verses 17 to 31, King James Version
17 And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?
18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.
19 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.
20 And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth.
21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.
22 And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.
23 And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!
24 And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!
25 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.
26 And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved?
27 And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.
28 Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee.
29 And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's,
30 But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.
31 But many that are first shall be last; and the last first.
Bring the needle into the sanctuary. Lay it where the light can find it: that little silver question, that narrow, unbribable eye. Beside it, bring the camel, all knees and burden and bewilderment. Now bring the fortune. Bring the deeds and the dividends, the vast computers and the signatures that decide whether their power will free a worker’s time or take away the worker’s living.
We have arranged our technological future before the words of Christ. Let us see what will fit.
A rich young man comes to Jesus with a question about eternal life. He has kept the commandments, he says. He has arrived with the confidence of a man whose accounts appear to balance. Jesus tells him to sell what he possesses, give to the poor, and follow.
The man goes away sorrowful.
We are not told that he mocks Jesus. We are not told that he laughs at the poor. His sorrow is the terrible part. He can recognize a holy invitation and still prefer the possessions that make him unable to answer it.
Then Jesus speaks of a camel passing through the eye of a needle. The disciples are astonished. Who, then, can be saved? Jesus answers, “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.”
Grace enters the story. It does not enter carrying a larger needle.
Yet consider the church we have sometimes built for the wealthy: a church of ingenious alterations. Here is a gospel with the sharp point filed away. Here is a cross light enough to wear over a fortune without disturbing it. Here is a preacher prepared to explain that surrender means feeling detached from property while remaining very firmly attached to the rent.
How tenderly we have ministered to the camel. How little tenderness we have spared for those beneath its load.
Imagine a woman on the early bus, reading an announcement about artificial intelligence. Her company calls it a new era. She wonders whether there will be a wage for her in it. She has helped build the enterprise’s wealth; she has no vote in the decision. Somewhere, an owner is calculating what the new system can save. Her life appears in his calculation as a cost.
Their freedom has different dimensions. Hers is measured in minutes she must account for. His is measured in lives he can rearrange.
This is the class relation hidden beneath the promise of progress. Wealth of this kind is command: the power to decide who receives the benefit of a discovery and who must bear its cost. The intelligence may be artificial. The ownership is very human.
In 2009, Peter Thiel wrote, “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.” Tesla’s own 2024 filing valued Elon Musk’s performance-option award in tens of billions of dollars. Set those facts beside the needle. Are we to entrust the age of artificial intelligence to a handful of fortunes, and call the rest of humanity free because it may applaud? No person’s brilliance purchases the right to govern everyone else’s tomorrow.
Now imagine an owner arriving at church to hear that God has blessed him.
Blessed him with what? With the worker’s unanswered request? With the power to turn another person’s fear of the future into an income?
The gifts of God do not become innocent merely because their possessor has learned to pronounce the giver’s name. Misused abundance will answer to divine judgment. You may purchase a stained-glass window. You cannot make God look through it and fail to see the street.
Someone says that this is envy. Let us look closely. Envy would like the owner’s chair. We want the woman on the morning bus to have power over her working life. We want artificial intelligence directed toward time returned, care made available, a home made secure. We want the people who sustain the enterprise to share authority over the tools that will change it.
Our quarrel reaches beyond the manners of the master. It reaches the mastery.
So let the wealth change hands. Let workers organize where fear has kept them separate. Let the union’s demand reach the deployment of the machine and the distribution of its gains. Let that claim grow into democratic ownership, so that a technology built upon human knowledge serves common life. Abundance must cease traveling upward while its burdens are carried down.
Charity can ease a wound. It cannot be allowed to purchase the right to keep inflicting it.
And to the rich: Christ’s summons has not expired. There is life beyond the locked account. There are human beings you can meet without owning the terms of the meeting. But do not call the poor impatient because your conversion has become a leisurely study of their suffering. Return what has been taken. Surrender the power that keeps taking. Come down into a common life where your neighbor’s freedom does not depend upon your generosity.
The rich young man leaves sorrowful, and the Gospel lets us hear his footsteps. I do not want those footsteps to be the last sound in this room.
Let us hear another sound: a key placed in another person’s hand. The chairs being drawn into a circle. The worker who was frightened to speak discovering that she will not have to speak alone.
No machine can be our Christ. But we can choose a future whose arrangements bear some likeness to his kingdom: power surrendered, the excluded welcomed, abundance reaching those in need. We hope for grace enough to free even the wealthy from the terrible labor of keeping everyone else beneath them.
But we will not make their deliverance an excuse for postponing ours.
Leave the needle in the light. Let its small, unsparing eye question every fortune we have taught ourselves to admire.
The needle need not change.
We do.
The Rich Man and the Needle
Matthew 19:16–30 connects the rich young man’s possessions, Jesus’ command to sell and give to the poor, the camel and needle saying, and the possibility of salvation with God. The sermon keeps all these elements together. It does not invent a small gate through which a camel could squeeze or replace divestment with an inward attitude toward unchanged wealth. Mark’s parallel also says Jesus loves the man; that love accompanies the demand, rather than canceling it.
The Thiel quotation is from his April 13, 2009 essay, not a claim about a newly stated position. The Musk reference is to Tesla’s 2024 proxy statement, page 66, which values the 2018 performance stock-option award at $44.9 billion using the April 12, 2024 closing share price. It is not cash salary, current net worth, or a claim about the award’s later legal status. The sermon criticizes concentrated power without alleging criminal conduct or pronouncing either person’s spiritual fate.
Source: Peter Thiel, The Education of a Libertarian, April 13, 2009
Source: Tesla 2024 proxy statement, page 66, 2018 CEO Performance Award value
