Matthew 19:26 "Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible."
Jesus said some really radical things. He says if you look at a woman lustfully, you've committed adultery with her in your heart. He says if you hate a man, you've committed murder in your heart. He raises the stakes and raises the bar considerably. Why does he do this? Can a human really live sinless as described by Jesus? Probably not. If anything Jesus makes the standards even more unattainable than they were before. So why did he do that? What does it all mean? I think Jesus raises the bar on sin and obedience to show us that he is the only one who can meet the challenge. "Humanly" speaking he says, we can't get to heaven. On our own we can't do it. We can't be good enough by ourselves. We need him. With him it's possible. With him "everything is possible." Maybe that was the point? This doesn't mean we stop trying and give into sin. What it does mean, is that we reach out to him more. We follow him more closely. We trust more deeply. That's what it's all about.
