Gospel of Mark 9:33-35
Then
they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them,
"What were you arguing about on the way?" But they were
silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the
greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "Whoever
wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all."
……………………………………………………………………………
The relationship between our soul and God is like a cup of glass, which is filled or half filled or not filled at all by our ego. When it is at half measure, then we do good a little and we do an awful lot of bad things. When our soul is empty of ourselves, not just almost, but completely, then the soul gets united with God, in a mystic union.
As it is written in the Letter to the Philippians 2:7 that Jesus "emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men", so we have to empty our souls by getting rid of our ego, in order to let God's Spirit to fill our cup of glass, which is our soul.
When our ego fills the cup, there is no space left for the Spirit of God. When to soul is full with the ego, the cup is completely dark, and that person is desperately wicked, lacking the Spirit and the Light of God, exercising scary ungodliness almost all the time.
We assume, that this case is very rare, when a soul is completely dark. Even very wicked people sometimes possess something little tiny-tiny good, like even the son and wife killer King Herod among his other notable achievements during his long rule, he saved the population of his country from a deadly famine in 25 BCE, when on his own expense he imported grain from Egypt and started an aid program to combat the widespread hunger and disease that followed a massive drought. He also waived a third of the taxes.
Thus, beside that he was a murderous psychopath and his whole clan had a very bad reputation in the Gospels, even he did something good, though very occasionally.
Nonetheless any disrespect of the Commandments of God, or the slightest ignorance toward God’s kingship, can easily prevent us from entering Heaven, just as Jesus declared it in the Gospel of Matthew that "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, 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."
This is also the case in the old Egyptian religion, where a Weighing of the Heart event would take place in the Afterlife where the dead were judged by Anubis, using a feather, representing Ma'at, the goddess of truth and justice responsible for maintaining order in the universe. The heart was the seat of the life-spirit. Hearts heavier than the feather of Ma'at, aka guilty against truth and justice, were rejected and eaten by Ammit, the Devourer of Souls.
Although Christian scholarship credit Jesus with the eye of a needle and the camel aphorism, it was a well known saying throughout the ancient Middle East.
Mostly it involved camels, but sometimes elephants. Even Islam texts evoke the same image by saying that “To those who reject Our signs and treat them with arrogance, no opening will there be of the gates of heaven, nor will they enter the garden of Paradise, until the camel can pass through the eye of the needle: Such is Our reward for those in sin.”
Jewish tradition had it that once Jerusalem had a small gate, called the eye of a needle, which opened after the main gate was closed at night. A camel could not pass through the smaller gate unless it was stooped and had its baggage removed. So people before the gates of Heaven should leave behind all of their baggage, especially their sins, otherwise they can not enter.
The soul must deem itself nothing in order to deserve to closeness of God, as the ancient tradition holds that “The Holy One said, open for me a door as big as a needle's eye and I will open for you a door through which whole caravans may enter, tents and camels”.
Nonetheless, the bitter competition was unfortunately present even among the close disciples of Jesus, because the Messiah was considered not only as a spiritual leader, but a very physical King as well, who will reestablish also the earthly Kingdom of David in the Land of Israel, winning all the wars again the Romans and other oppressors.
The disciples wanted high positions in that upcoming kingdom, as it is clearly seen in the Gospel story on which "Zebedee's wife came with her sons, John and his brother to Jesus. (...) . Jesus asked, `What do you want me to do for you?' The woman said, `These are my two sons. Promise that in your kingdom one may sit at your right and the other at your left.' But Jesus said, `You do not know what you are asking for. (...) I cannot choose who will sit at my right or at my left. My Father has planned who will sit there.'
When the other ten disciples heard about it, they were angry with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said,"You know that those who rule over countries make their people obey them. The great men will tell the others what to do. But that is not the way it is among you. Anyone among you who wants to be great will help the others. Anyone among you who wants to be first will be a servant to the others. "
The eye of a needle saying was a response to a young rich man of whom Jesus demanded that if he wants to follow the Master to inherit eternal life, and if he wants to be perfect, Jesus told him that “go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." The young rich man found it impossible to obey, just like how a camel may pass through the eye of a needle.
We can not empty ourselves to God, if we think something is more important than God. Especially we can not get rid of our ego, if we think that we deserve more and better than the others, or when somebody thinks that the others are out there to be exploited and used, and they are out there to serve us.
Jesus explicitly warned the disciples in the Gospel of Matthew that “Whoever desires to be first among you shall be your bondservant, even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
There is no other happiness or joy which could be greater than the unity with God, the unity with the Lord, the unity with the Holy Spirit. In order to get closer and closer to God, we have to restrain our egos, our desires, our thoughts, our speeches, our deeds in order to grow in godliness and holiness, every day.
To us it sounds impossible, as it had sounded impossible even to the Apostles, but Jesus says that “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”
AMEN.
