Matthew 19a

 Jesus and the disciples have gathered at base camp Capernaum to prepare for a journey to Jerusalem. Apparently, they are now ready and so they depart from the district of Galilee.

19: 1-2.  When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. Large crowds followed him, and he cured them there.

 This first leg of the journey follows the route of a typical Jewish trip to Jerusalem. Jews usually avoided traveling the direct route straight south through Samaria. For example, when Jesus sent the disciples out to minister, he gave specific instructions including, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans” (Matthew 10:5). Luke even has a vignette at this time revealing that Jesus sent some disciples ahead to prepare his arrival in a Samaritan village, but the village refused to host him (Luke 9: 51-56). 

 So, Jesus now follows the traditional route of leaving Galilee at the southeast edge of the district, crossing the Jordan, and continuing south in Judean territory toward Jerusalem. Of course, he will have to cross back over the Jordan when he draws parallel to Jerusalem. 

 This is not a vacation because Jesus is now a recognized healer, and so he is greeted by crowds along the way, and crowds are needy people. Also, Jesus knows more about the end of the journey than the disciples do.  

19: 3-6.  Some Pharisees came to him, and to test him they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause?” He answered, “Have you not read that the one who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate.” 

 Once again, Jesus’ fame rouses the jealousy of the Pharisees. They don’t attract crowds when they give a speech. Even then there was ‘crowd envy’. They approach Jesus, not as disinterested parties, but to test him and trap him. This time they bait the trap with a current debate going on among them. The key phrase in the question is: “for any cause.”

All the Pharisees agreed that a man could divorce his wife, but a woman could not divorce her husband except under extreme conditions. Two main schools of thought both anchored their argument in Deuteronomy 24: 1: “Suppose a man enters into marriage with a woman, but she does not please him because he finds something objectionable about her, and so the man writes her a certificate of divorce….”

  The difference between them was the interpretation of “something objectionable.” Rabbi Shammai had emphasized the ‘objectionable’ and had narrowly defined the cause as adultery. Rabbi Hillel had emphasized the ‘something’ and advocated for the man’s right to divorce for ‘any cause’ (Keener and Walton, The NRSV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible (2019), pages 1663-64, footnote 19:3).

So, the debate was not over whether a man could divorce his wife, but what causes were legitimate. The more liberal school of thought included even trivial things like “burning the matzos” (Witherington, 2006, page 361), or if the man found another woman more attractive. 

 Instead of entering the debate directly, Jesus asks what came before this. Is the Deuteronomy verse the whole teaching of the Bible about marriage and divorce? No, it is not. The quip about whether they have read Genesis or not surely was a biting critique. Of course they had read Genesis, all their lives! However, they did not know how to understand and apply it. Jesus says that the foundational law is that God created them male and female, and one male should join with one female to become one flesh, that is, be joined together by God. When that happens, no one should be able to separate them.

 Thus, Jesus, in this debate, is taking an even more conservative position than most of the Pharisees. This surprises them, and they object.

19: 7-9.  They said to him, “Why then did Moses command us to give a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her?” He said to them, “It was because you were so hard-hearted that 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, (and he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”) 

 First, let's take a closer look at the text. Jesus lays out the plan for a union that “God has joined together.” We, of course, think of this as marriage, modern day marriage. However, that is not so. When Moses was delivering the law, and even by the time that Jesus is speaking, most marriages were a contractual agreement between families. No state papers or license. No ceremony in the temple or synagogue. So, there were a number of rather loose unofficial arrangements. These did not fit the notion of “what God has joined together.” Neither does everything that we call a marriage today fit this notion.

 As an arrangement between the father of the woman and the father of the man, it is also possible, even likely, that the prospective couple had not been seeing each other (dating) and did not know each other well. That leaves open the possibility that the two will not like what they see once they get to know each other. For that reason, the Pharisees are aghast, as are the disciples when they hear what Jesus says.

 Note that in the earliest manuscripts the last line about “he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery” is missing, so I have put it in parentheses. That is important because Jesus’ take on marriage is directed toward the person who has power in the relationship, that is, the man. It is not directed toward the woman, except to provide some protection for her. Jesus will not let men lightly discard women who would then be stuck with an ambivalent position in society.    

10: 10-12.  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 accept this teaching, 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 others, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let anyone accept this who can.”

 The disciples are so shocked they conclude that, under these rules, it would be better not to marry at all. Jesus agrees that is possible. Contrary to the conservative Christian view in America, women are not destined to be housewives and mothers. It’s not Biblical to think that way. 

 Here Jesus opens the way for single women and single men to have a life in the Kingdom. Singleness is a gift, a vocation, a way of serving in the Kingdom. If the gift comes to a person, they can accept it if they are able. Jesus clarifies that he is not talking about a person who is sterile or impaired, or one who has been sterilized by some authority. He is talking about a choice, a choice to follow a way of service. 

19: 13-15.  Then children were being brought to him in order that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples spoke sternly to those who brought them, but Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and do not stop them, for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.” And he laid his hands on them and went on his way.

 We will conclude with this brief event, partly because it seems to complete a list of Jesus’ concerns with marginalized people. He has opened up a space for women and single people to serve in the Kingdom, now he reiterates an earlier lesson that even children have a place in the Kingdom and a part to play in service. 

 First, though, how long has it been since the disciples got a stern lesson about the honor that is to be shown to children?  It was yesterday, the beginning of the last chapter, 18:1-5. Not very long ago. In that event, Jesus’ lesson for the disciples was: “Be humble like a child and welcome one such child as if you were welcoming me.”

 I want to close by recognizing how far off track we are from Jesus’ teachings. Today’s world swirls around power and wealth. Much of politics, economics, and even church issues are driven by grabbing access to power and wealth and then keeping control by whatever means necessary. There is no shame any more in mistreating others, nor in lying to get what you want. Recently, several politicians have admitted that they know that the conspiracy theories they spin are not true; that does not matter to them. What matters is whether or not the story or claim pleases their base and gets them elected or re-elected. Only the bottom line matters.

 Jesus teaches his followers, the disciples and us, to humble themselves, to be vulnerable to the point of sacrifice for the good of the other, and to lift up the marginalized in society, which he just did; one, two, three. Women, single persons, children.  

 It is not power that will destroy wickedness, but rather faithful sacrifice in the service of the Kingdom (II Corinthians 12: 9). It is not worldly weapons that will overcome the darkness; what overcomes the darkness is light (John 1: 1-5). It was not killing someone else that released us from sin, it was Jesus' submission to die on the cross that paid the price.

We are followers of Jesus Christ. What are we supposed to do now? Take up the weapons of the world to fight the battle of Christianity? That is a slippery slope in a losing cause: Christianity is not a nation, it is the Kingdom of God. Jesus is clear; we are bid to take up our cross and follow the Jesus way.