Jesus as a Jewish Comic
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The phrase, "it is more difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God than it is for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle," is meant literally but in a marvelously literary or parabolic or maybe even humorous sense. That is to say, "It's just impossible."

There is this theory that the "camel" that Jesus refers to is really a rope woven out of camel hair and that Jesus was actually saying that a rope of such construction would be difficult (but not impossible) to go through the eye of a needle, especially if the needle were one of a wooden variety which were actually quite large compared to the metal needles we know today. Wedon't buy it.

We think that this difficult teaching of Jesus is an intentionally violent contrast to the point of being ridiculous, and it is, in the first place, important that we understand to whom this phrase is addressed. Jesus says to the rich young ruler, "sell all you have and give it to the poor (if you want to inherit the kingdom of heaven)." and the rich young man gives up and walks away. Hence Jesus' response after the man leaves. He seems to be shaking his head and saying, "You know, it's just easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven."

Zaccheus, the rich tax collector, asks the same question of Jesus, but then offers to sell half of all he has and make right all of his debts to those whom he defrauded. Jesus says to him, "Today salvation has come to (your) house." Zaccheus was willing to start over, the rich young ruler was not.

The Talmud uses the "eye of the needle" expression in similar ways. "One does not see (in dreams) a palm of gold or an elephant passing through an eye of a needle." Or, "open to me an opening of penitence as big as the eye of a needle, and I will open to you gates through which wagons and carriages can pass."

But our Talmudic favorite is, "A needle’s eye is not too narrow for two friends, nor is the world wide enough for two enemies." Marvelous!

The Quran also has an "eye of the needle" phrase, but the Quran arrives on the scene some 600 years after the Talmudic and Christian Scriptures (which were written at about the same time) so those passages in the Quran may be dependant on the earlier Jewish and Christian references.

From such wildly outrageous comparisons like this one of Jesus, comes much of Jewish humor. Specificity and exaggeration are essential elements of humor. A camel going through the eye of a needle is funny. A rope travelling through same, is not. "My refrigerator hasn't been cleaned in an incredibly long time." is only midly funny. "My Kenmore hasn't been cleaned since the first Bush administration." is funny (not my line).

Or my current favorite by Robin Williams (not Jewish but he's got the idea), "A man died of an overdose of Viagra and they couldn't close the casket."

Jesus, by making this famous saying, does not condemn the weathy as such. He just muses in a funny way about those who are absurdly connected to their wealth.