Humility is not common in a sinful world, especially amongst adults who think that they are 'someone'. As parents were pushing their children forwards for Jesus to commend them to His Father and bless them, the disciples were upset that He was paying them too much attention. After all, children were not important, they thought. So the men from Jesus' team decided to stop the flow of youngsters who were getting in the way of the 'real ministry' as they saw it.
 

When we think that we can manage without Jesus - we do! Whatever contributes to that state of pride and arrogance is a spiritual obstacle. Wealth in its many forms gives a false sense of security which appears to make faith redundant. So when Jesus said it was 'easier for a camel to go through the eye of a (sewing) needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God', He was saying that naturally speaking it is impossible.
 

Some Christians believe that the church is part of their leisure experience; as warming as a barbeque on a summer's night, or as refreshing as a dip in the pool at the end of a long day. Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is about servants working for a master. And the work He envisaged was not an office job with central heating and air conditioning; it was labouring hard in a vineyard.
 

When other people get more than you get, and they have done less to deserve it, how do you feel? Jesus' parable about the vineyard labourers, who were all paid the same amount even though some had hardly done any work, ended with the hard workers complaining that it was not fair.