Matthew part 33

On the Road to Jerusalem

Today, we begin Matthew 19 which is the beginning of a new section in Matthew. Having completed the bulk of his teaching, Jesus turns his attention towards Jerusalem. Now, Jesus has served with the disciples for about 3 years at this point, and Matthew wants to shift our attention to the main reason he came—to atone for our sins through his death and resurrection. Linguistically, Matthew does this using the geography of the area. Now that Jesus has completed his last set of teachings, he will leave Galilee and enter Judea.

In this area, the Pharisees will once again try to trip Jesus with a legal issue, but Matthew wants us to see more than just another run-in with some opponents. Chapter 19 includes three instances in which Jesus has to clarify misunderstandings concerning what he has taught. We will look at them today, however before we read the passage, I would like to pose a question:

Why is it that people need so much encouragement and reminding when it comes to matters of right and wrong?

Have you ever thought about it? Now, I know we could play the extra “spiritual card” and say, “Well, because we all sin and make mistakes.” And, sure, that would be correct. But that doesn’t really answer the question. My question is “why”. Why is it that even when we know what is right, we can still find ourselves wandering from the right way to act—especially for those of us who call ourselves Christian.

I believe the answer is partly what we discussed in Chapter 18, how willing we are to humble ourselves, but also, here in Chapter 19, Jesus is going to bring up the problem of having a hard heart. Sometimes, even though we know in our head what God calls us to, that knowledge has trouble penetrating our heart. We find ourselves misunderstanding Jesus, or ignoring what he calls us toward, simply because our pride has hardened our heart. 0

Today, as we read what the Word of God has for us, let’s take care to soften our hearts and humble ourselves as children in order to truly hear what the Holy Spirit has to say.

A Hard Lesson for Hard Hearts | Matthew 19:1-12

Now when Jesus had finished these sayings, he went away from Galilee and entered the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. And large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.

And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?” He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”

The disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” But he said to them, “Not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.”

Matthew 19:1-12

Jesus is posed a question by the Pharisees who routinely desired to trap Jesus into saying something that would disqualify his ministry. This question of divorce is not arbitrary for the Pharisees. At this time in Jewish history, they had an ongoing debate concerning the interpretation of Deuteronomy 24:1:

When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and ehe writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and she departs out of his house,

Deuteronomy 24:1

The opposing views centered on whether the reader should emphasize “indecent” or “anything”. The former said divorce was permissible for unfaithfulness or illicit behavior. The latter allowed divorce for even trivial matters like burning dinner. (Later rabbis would offer a stricter interpretation saying the wife must be acting passive aggressively by burning the dinner, but the example still stands.) In addition, the Pharisees certainly had Jesus’ previous sayings from the Sermon on the Mount in mind, as well as the recent affair Herodias had which put John the Baptist in prison (Matt 14:3-12). There is a strong chance, they brought this question before Jesus in hopes of getting him put in prison (maybe even beheaded), also.

But rather than play their political games, Jesus brings up the whole reason for marriage in the first place.

Marriage was instituted by God in order for a husband and wife to carry out the design for humanity as part of the Creation.

Now, that doesn’t mean every person should be married. The Bible has many exceptions, and Church History has many more. The point is not that people should feel less because they are single, nor even if they have gone through a divorce. The point is simply how we should view the institution of marriage. It is a God-ordained system by which humanity grows and exerts its god-given authority in the world.

As such, divorce should not be permissible for something as trivial as a burnt dinner. In fact, it should be protected against attacks by human institutions or persons. Additionally, Jesus just spent several chapters of Matthew teaching on forgiveness and reconciliation. These teachings absolutely apply to the case of marriage.

Marriages are worth defending because they are part of God’s design for the family.

“But,” the Pharisees ask, “why did Moses allow for divorce, then?”

Jesus replies Moses allowed for it because of the hardness of their hearts, but it was not that way in the beginning.

Topics like divorce can be very difficult for churches to discuss. It’s difficult for pastors to preach. And its difficulty only grows in time. The reason for its difficulty is because every one of us has been affected by divorce in some way. Many are children of divorced parents. Some have had a divorce themselves. And some have divorced children.

Many like to quote the famous “50% of all marriages end in divorce” line, but the good news is, that’s actually not true. It’s actually far lower, and the rate has historically dropped in the last 4 decades. The flip side of this statistic, though, is the marriage rate is also in decline. It remained in decline from the 70s up until 2021. Regardless, at least anecdotally, it is well understood, 21st century U.S.A. is not too different from 1st century Judaism when it comes to the topic of marriage. Some believe marriage is still sacred and must be protected. Others, while they may respect the institution for the most part, they have little concern over what constitutes a good reason to get a divorce. And that’s not even getting into issues of same-sex marriage.

So, as we consider what Jesus says here in Matthew 19, we must be willing to ask ourselves the question that he implies to the Pharisees, “Do I have a hard heart when it comes to certain topics?” Are we willing to accept the truth, even if it is a difficult pill to swallow?

Difficult truths require a soft heart towards God and a measure of humility to accept.

The truth is, Jesus offers only one ‘out’ for marriage, and that is sexual immorality or infidelity. (One may ask about cases of abuse, but I believe you could make the case the abuser is unfaithful because they destroy the trust, safety, and security of the marriage relationship.)

And this can be a hard teaching, but that is why the disciples respond they way they do. Their belief is maybe it’s better to just not marry at all. This attitude actually remained with the Early Church for some time, and Paul even makes a similar statement to the Corinthians.

Jesus replies that there are many who have committed to the single life for a variety of reasons. He is essentially saying, “That is an option.” But he ends this section with an interesting statement. “Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.” In other words, Jesus knows not everyone is ready to hear such a teaching. But the ones that are should receive it and act accordingly.

As we move deeper into chapter 19, keep this point in mind. We are going to see a review of the previous chapter, but also, when we meet the rich young ruler, we will see an even harder lesson.

Remember the Lessons from the Children | Matthew 19:13-15

Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” And he laid his hands on them and went away.

Matthew 19:13-15

These verses, hopefully, imply some time has certainly passed between chapters 18 and 19. After all, when we get to it, your first thought might be, “Didn’t Jesus just tell them to accept the kids in their midst?” He did, but again, we humans tend to need to hear things several times before it starts to sink in. Perhaps we could read Jesus’ rebuke of the disciples with a similar tone you might hear from a parent talking the their child for the 100th time.

Commentators separate 18 and 19 as different sections, and while that does make sense, there is also a sense of connection because Matthew includes these verses. Consider the connection of teachings Matthew draws by including references to children.

3:9 - God can raise children for Abraham from stones, if needed.

7:11 - If they can give good gifts to their children, how much more can God.

11:16 - The current generation are like children playing in the street being foolish.

14:21 & 15:38 - Children are present in the miraculous feeding.

18:3 - We must repent and become like children if we are to enter the kingdom of heaven. And also, Jesus’ teachings on forgiveness, temptation, teaching others to sin, and the mission of God to save humanity all fall in chapter 18 where children are noted to be present in the audience.

Now, if we connect this mentioning of Jesus blessing children, it would appear Matthew, at least, wants us to draw the same connection to the ideas of marriage and what we will read next regarding the rich young ruler.

In these verses, Matthew reminds us following Jesus well requires child-like humility.

Humbling the Rich Young Man | Matthew 19:16-22

And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

Matthew 19:16-22

Now, there is a bit more to this story, but I want to stop here in order to help connect what Jesus has told this poor rich man to what we have been discussing for the last few weeks. Notice, this guy is actually doing very well for himself. And not just because he is wealthy. He is doing well to keep the law of God. In fact, Jesus doesn’t discredit what the man says. He says he has kept the law—at least the ones mentioned. By all accounts, he would be considered an honorable young man.

And yet, it appears the young man feels a sense of inadequacy in his life. He comes to Jesus to ask about eternal life, even though he knows the law already and keeps it. His initial question, though, reveals his misunderstanding of the kingdom of God. He asks what good deed must he do. He believes he can earn salvation if he just does the right thing…whatever that thing might be.

Jesus’ reply is interesting because he asks, “Why do you ask me about what is good?” The parallel in Mark is even more perplexing because, there, Jesus says only God is good. Essentially, what Jesus is doing is probing the man to determine why he is feeling inadequate with the teachings he already knows.

Jesus’ reply in verse 17 forces the man to focus on the standard of God’s goodness.

The exchange in 18-20 give us a glimpse into the mindset of this poor fellow. He has been trying very hard to follow God’s commands. And yet, there is something still lacking. Jesus brings up the problem in verse 21.

If this man really wants to keep the law perfectly, he should sell all that he has and give it to the poor. Unfortunately, he can’t do it. He walks away grieving because he cannot give up what he has built for himself.

Now, before we start jumping to personal applications, we must consider a couple of things. First, Luke follows up this account in Luke 18 with the story of Zaccheus and the parable of the talents. Zaccheus is told to give half of his income and use some of the rest to pay back those he defrauded. In the parable of the talents, God’s people are to invest it wisely for their Master’s use. What connects these with this story in Matthew is that Jesus is telling us we should use all of our assets for kingdom purposes. The details may look different for different people, but essentially:

Christian stewardship encompasses all of our finances, time, and abilities.

The Lord may ask us to act differently with our finances than others, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t concerned how we use our money. In fact, one commentator suggests,

“That Jesus did not command all his followers to sell all their possessions gives comfort only to the kind of people to whom he would issue that command.”

R. H. Gundry, Matthew, 1982

We will return to this rich young man next week, but before we close, let’s take a moment and consider what Jesus has taught in this chapter.

First, difficult topics require self-examination of the heart. We cannot hear God speak if we harden our heart to the truth.

Second, a softened heart requires humility—the same humility as a child going to their parent for help.

Third, eternal life is never granted to someone because they have done “the right thing.” The standard of God’s goodness reminds us we cannot reach that standard.

However, before we walk away grieving as this fellow did, we can remember the teachings of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount. Yes, we can’t earn heaven. But heaven has already come to us. Jesus came so that we can have eternal life—not through our effort, but because Jesus pays the price for our sin by going to the cross for us, rising again on the third day to establish victory over sin and death.

In about 40 days, we will celebrate Jesus’ victory over sin and death at Easter. As we approach this time, let it be a reminder of the price that was paid for our salvation, but also a reminder that our whole lives belong to God. As we steward this time, let’s invest it how God calls us to invest. Go and share the Good News of Jesus. Give to those who are in need. Support the ministries of this church.

But most importantly, and what must be done before anything else, if you have not surrendered to Jesus asking for forgiveness and eternal life, do that today.