Mathew 19

Jesus always took care to be led by the Holy Spirit as He went from place to place to heal people and proclaim the Kingdom of God, both in Word and deed, vs 1,2.

The Pharisees often brought Him tough questions concerning their law in order to trap Him, so that he could be invariably accused and convicted, vs 3. This time they attempted to corner Him with a question about as to whether it was lawful to divorce one’s wife or not.

Jesus responded with an amazing answer by pointing out to them as to what God had ordained concerning marriage from the beginning of time, vs 4. He said that God created, both male and female, to show forth His glory, and in order to do so effectively, in a marriage relationship, it was necessary that they be inseparable by means of any human force.

For this to be made possible, the man had to leave the emotional attachment he had towards his parents and cleave to His wife instead, vs 5,6. He further explained that the reason for which Moses permitted divorce was on account of the hardness of man’s heart and the unavailability of the Holy Spirit to help them overcome that hardness in old testament times! However, divorce was never the perfect will of God for any married couple, unless there was immorality involved, vs 7,8!

So, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another commits adultery, vs 9. The disciples found this to be a hard saying, but Jesus explained that only God’s grace, as given to each person concerned, could enable them to follow in a way that pleased God and was the best way for them, vs 10-12. Although the disciples walked with Jesus, they did not realise that children should not be hindered, but instead be blessed and encouraged to enter God’s Kingdom for it actually belonged to those who had a similar heart’s attitude like theirs, vs 13-15.

The story of the rich young ruler made it clear that:

• Only God is good, because He can never be tempted by evil.
• Those who try to obey God in their own strength could never enter the Kingdom of God
• It is impossible to obey God from our hearts without the power of the Holy Spirit.
• Eternal life is a gift from God given to us through Jesus Christ our Lord, and cannot be earned.
• We need to honestly acknowledge and repent of our love of money or else we will not be able to enter God’s Kingdom in the right manner
• Those who have left all to follow Jesus will be rewarded 100 times as much here on earth and receive eternal life too, however,
• If our motivation is selfish and not right, we will be last
  Instead of first on the day of receiving our dues!
• When God exposes our sin, we must be honest about the same, but never turn away from following Him. Instead, we can ask Him for help to obey, for He is always willing to give us all the help we need, vs 16-30!

Let us be willing to change our minds on any misconceptions that we have concerning divorce, concerning children and concerning how to enter into God’s kingdom and align our thoughts with the principles laid down in God’s Word, so as to live our lives to the fullest and in God’s perfect will too. Amen.

Rowena Thomas
Mumbai, India.