<p>10:23 <i>And Jesus looked around, and said to his disciples: How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God- </i>&quot;Have wealth&quot; is paralleled, or expanded, in 10:24, with &quot;them that trust in riches&quot;. To have wealth is to trust in it. Hence the danger of it- wealth militates against faith. Hence Paul warned &quot;them that are rich in this world that they... <i>trust not</i> in uncertain riches but in the living God&quot; (1 Tim. 6:9,10).</p><p>The sense is not simply that it is hard for a rich man to enter the Kingdom, but that he shall enter with difficulty. The Lord goes on to say that such shall enter the Kingdom only by God's grace and possibility of saving those who do not rise up to the higher levels that He bids us to (Mt. 19:26). In what, then, is the hardness or difficulty- if God is willing to accept our living on lower levels? The difficulty is in not walking away from Christ as the young man did, because of our pride; what is hard is to be like a child, the model throughout this entire discourse, and simply accept God's grace in Christ.</p>