Through the Eye of the Needle: 'Abdu'l-Bahá on the Rich Man

Inquirers in ‘Akká would sometimes ask the Master to explain hard sayings of the Gospel. One that came up frequently, the listeners record, was Christ’s remark that *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.* The visitors found the saying severe and obscure.

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The Master would offer, in His Persian way, a domestic explanation. The *needle,* He would say, was likely a small, narrow side-gate in the wall of an ancient city — a low postern through which travellers could pass after the great gates had been closed at night. The local term for it, in several Eastern cities, had been *the needle.*

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A camel could indeed pass through such a gate, the Master would explain — but only on certain conditions. It had first to be made to kneel. Its load had to be taken off and carried through separately by hand. Once unburdened and kneeling, it could shuffle through the small opening on its knees, and rise on the other side. The image was practical, not impossible.

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This, the Master would observe, is exactly what is asked of the rich man. He is not, by his wealth, denied the kingdom. He is, however, required to do what the camel does. He must kneel; he must lay aside the load; he must enter unburdened. The wealth is not destroyed by the kingdom — it is set down outside the narrow gate, to be carried in by other hands and put to other uses. Only the unburdened soul, the kneeling soul, can pass.

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The image, the listeners record, would change something in the hearers. Wealth, in the Gospel image as the Master rendered it, was not the enemy. It was simply the load that had to be set down at the threshold. The rich could enter the kingdom — but not riding upon their riches. They had first to get off, kneel, and walk through with their hands open and their backs straight.

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The Master, in giving the explanation, was not flattering the rich. He was offering them, the visitors noticed, the only honest path the Gospel had ever offered them: the path of detachment from the very things their lives had been organised to acquire. The friends who heard Him understood that the parable had been clarified, not softened.

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*Paraphrased from Stories Told by 'Abdu'l-Bahá (Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 2000); see original for full text.*

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