It is not that easy. If we look at historical context we can see that for example in judaism they have this midrash:
"The Holy One said, open for me a door as big as a needle's eye and I will open for you a door through which may enter tents and camels."
Sounds familiar? The meaning of that saying in jewish context is that we cant really understand Gods abilities.
Could the christian saying mean something else? Sure. We dont even know if jesus even said that exact phrase.
My point is more that there are often more than one interpretation of vague sayings from 2000 years that been through an oral tradition, translations and copying.
In your example the saying suggests that a Camel going through the eye of a needle is an extraordinary event like a rich person going to heaven in the traditional Christian saying.
It is incredibly clear and without nuance nor is there a reason to suppose it's an issue with translation. Its also consistent philosophically nor is it the sort of thing that the powerful would want inserted when they compiled works.
If you disregard it then it makes more sense to disregard the entire bible.
I find it interesting that they attack the camel and needle analogy when the previous line is: "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven." That is a pretty definitive statement and makes it clear that the camel and needle line is metaphor for the difficulty.
No, it is not "incredible" clear what ancient jews meant by that saying. Hence the wildly different interpretations. Are you really saying that it is incredible clear that the jewish understanding of the jewish saying is wrong and only your christian understanding is correct?
Half the planet either explicitly or implicitly believes in the just world hypothesis and America especially valorizes, empathize s with, and seeks to emulate the rich even when they do nothing to earn their wealth and on average do enormous harm.
It is therefore hardly shocking that some fail to see the plain meaning of the language and their confusion needn't imply actual credible controversy.
It is pretty clear that the saying you provided and the Christian saying are different sayings with different meanings that share the metaphor about a Camel going through the eye of a needle.
The surrounding context is Jesus telling a rich person to give his material wealth away because it is barrier to salvation. It is clear that focus on the temporal comforts privided by wealth stunts ones need for spirituality. The man cannot give up his attachment to wealth and gives up on salvation in the Christian sense.
It is hard for me to get from this that the rich are especially virtuos and therefore the only lesson was intended to be taught is that not even the rich can be saved without god.
It seems very clear that wealth was a direct impediment to salvation.
You have not provided any evidence for your claim that there is no connection between the "christian" saying and the prexisting jewish saying. The schoolars disagree with you that there exists only one single historical intepretation of the saying. You are just reading in what you personally want the text to read. Just like all fundamentalists.
You don't need to prove a negative. For any trillion combination of sayings which share 4 or more words in common no evidence exists for the connection of one to the other. The words are manifestly different save for using the same idiom about a camel through the eye of a needle.
They are again different in meaning with one being that attachment wealth is a barrier to being saved and the other being through god all things are possible. If you believe a plain interpretation of the text is in accurate the onus is on you to prove why and you haven't.
"The Holy One said, open for me a door as big as a needle's eye and I will open for you a door through which may enter tents and camels."
Sounds familiar? The meaning of that saying in jewish context is that we cant really understand Gods abilities.
Could the christian saying mean something else? Sure. We dont even know if jesus even said that exact phrase.
My point is more that there are often more than one interpretation of vague sayings from 2000 years that been through an oral tradition, translations and copying.