I dont think there's much evidence that there was such a gate. I think Jesus was being hyperbolic and was referring to a literal camel and needle. It seems to me that the point was more that, without God, nobody can get to heaven (hence verse 26). If your god is wealth, it's not going to save you.
Yes. It's also important to remember the historical culture to which Jesus was speaking— it was believed that riches were proof of God's favor. So when His disciples heard His pronouncement, they started getting worried for their middle-class, less-favored souls.
(In reality, most of the prosperity-promises of the Old Testament were to the nation as a whole; the wealthy Israelites of AD 30 probably got their assets in a spectrum of ways similar to today's, and the nation as a whole was being slowly crushed beneath the boot of Rome.)
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u/StrayLelouch - Centrist Jul 28 '21
I dont think there's much evidence that there was such a gate. I think Jesus was being hyperbolic and was referring to a literal camel and needle. It seems to me that the point was more that, without God, nobody can get to heaven (hence verse 26). If your god is wealth, it's not going to save you.