Who Then Can Be Saved?

Tuesday, August 18, 2026

Ez 28: 1-10; Mt 19: 23-30

Today’s Gospel deals with one of the most challenging teachings of Jesus. 

After the rich young man went away from Jesus sad, the Lord cautions his disciples by saying, ‘It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.’ It is here that the disciples ask Jesus in all frustration, ‘Who then can be saved?’

When the disciples ask, they clearly operate under the belief that wealth or richness is God’s blessing. Therefore, the rich enjoy God’s abundant blessings. Hence, if they find it difficult to enter God’s Kingdom, for whom will it be easy? 

In his teaching, Jesus questions the assumption that rich people will have a greater advantage in entering God’s Kingdom. Unlike what his disciples assumed, Jesus highlights the danger of riches by showing that if wealth takes the place of God and prevents people from completely depending on God, it could well be a spiritual obstacle.

Here Jesus talks of God’s mercy in salvaging people. He dismisses his disciples’ assumptions on two levels. The Kingdom of God is not obtained because we are rich. Nor does it belong to those who have achieved a certain level of goodness. We are saved because God is merciful. Hence, we cannot take our eyes off God’s mercy. 

When his disciples concluded salvation to be the prerogative of the wealthy, Jesus corrected their assumption by placing it under God’s mercy. Hence, for Jesus, what matters is if our hearts belong to God entirely without being possessed by our possessions.

Let us pray for grace to surrender ourselves completely to God, who alone can save us.

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar