Camels and Cables

It's typical. you wait around for ages for a camel and then two come along at once. It's enough to give you the hump...
It's OK I'll stop now...
Today's ramble is prompted by tomorrow's lectionary reading from the gospel and the tendency by many a preacher and commentator to "explain away" Jesus' proverbial camel/eye of the needle conjunction in not entirely convincing ways, including the idea the "eye of the needle" was a small gate in the wall of Jerusalem (which has no historic or archaeological substance I am told) or that the word Greek word for "camel" is a misreading of the Greek for "cable", which makes literary sense, and makes the image more understandable if less memorable... But then some of the more memorable things I have said and done are "mistakes..."

Camels, cables…

Always on the lookout

For a loophole

Through which we can thread

An entire caravan

Of distractions

To Christ’s call

To discipleship.

We’ve rightly erased

Camels from

The nativity narrative

But in our haste

To remove this

Ungainly beast

And unusual metaphor

From Jesus’ turn of phrase

Might we, as usual

Be missing the point?

Lets not explain away

The extraordinary image

Of bulky beasts

And miniature apertures

In order to evade

The equally extraordinary invitation

That this cross-carrying Christ

Extends to us to follow him

Into the impossible.

Selah

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