The "eye of a needle" refers to a small gate
within the larger gate at the entrance to a city
(in this case Jerusalem.) It was common to build an
ordinary door in the huge gate so that common folks
could come and go without leaving the large
city gate wide open. Here's the catch:
For a camel to enter, he would have to be stripped
of the cumbersone load on his back, kneel down
and crawl through the door. Jesus compared a rich
young ruler's many possessions to the camel's
burgeoning bundle because the man was giving
to his treasure more importance than service to God.
Money had become the object of his trust.
Some attempt to disprove this passage of scripture
by arguing there never was such a gate, even though
I've seen a picture of one online...I don't know
what city it belonged to...some say if you
change one letter of one word, the translation
veers from camel to rope- and that the needle is
in fact a sewing needle...therefore a
rope trying to fit through the eye of a sewing
needle- quite a feat any way you look at it.
It all boils down to the fact it was an analogy,
the point being that having lots of material
possessions can make it easier to lose an
eternal perspective on life.
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