Matthew 19:25-26

Matthew 19:25-26. When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed The disciples, who had followed their Master in expectation of becoming rich and great, were exceedingly astonished when they heard him declare that it was next to impossible for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. They thought if the rich and the great could not enter his kingdom, he never could have any kingdom at all; and, therefore, they asked one another with great surprise, Who then can be saved If rich men with all their advantages cannot? “Who? A poor man: a peasant: a beggar: ten thousand of them,” says Mr. Wesley, “sooner than one that is rich.” But Jesus beheld them Mark says, looking upon them To compose their hurried spirits. O what a speaking look was there! Said to them With the utmost sweetness; With men this is impossible It is observable, he does not retract what he had said; no, nor soften it in the least degree, but rather strengthens it, by representing the salvation of a rich man as the utmost effort of Omnipotence. The energy of divine grace is able to make a man despise the world, with all that it contains, when no efforts of man, no arguments, eloquence, or persuasions are able to do it.