Jesus could have picked any kind of hyperbole to demonstrate how difficult it is to become the people we are called to be. But he used needles (and the camel, in Luke 18:25). Needles are used as tools to hold items together. We use them with thread to fasten a sleeve to a shirt, a shoe to a sole, or to make a quilt beautiful, strong and warm.
This image offers us a vision of the kind of life we can know in Jesus, a life sewn up with others in connection to God. God is mending all the brokenness of our own lives. We are part of those stitches that God is using to mend our world.
This vision of healing, purpose and connection might be just what we need to dismantle impossible barriers to transformation. The changes will never be as smooth as they are in old movies, but they will open us to really living.
This message is excerpted from “Barriers to transformation” by Sara Olson-Smith in the January 2015 Gather magazine.
Copyright © 2024 Women of the ELCA. Inquiries for permission to reproduce should be directed to [email protected].