To read the texts click on the texts: Joshua 24:1-13;Mt 19:3-12
The context of today’s reading is
immediately after Jesus has finished instructing his disciples (19,1-2) in the
“Community Discourse” (18, 1-35). The text is found also in Mark 10, 1-12, but
Matthew has made some changes to suit his purpose. In Matthew, Jesus begins his
response to the Pharisees question about the legality of divorce by going back
to Genesis 1,27 and 2,24 (in Mark the quotations from Genesis come later). In
Matthew, the Pharisees respond to Jesus’ quotation by citing Deut. 24,1, which
allowed divorce, and this prompts Jesus to move to the situational application.
The union of husband and wife is the creation of God and must be regarded as
such (in Mark, they respond in this manner after a question from Jesus about
what Moses commanded them). Matthew omits 10,12 of Mark, which reflects the
Gentile provision for a woman’s initiating a divorce, since this is not
applicable from his Jewish perspective. Matthew adds an exception clause; “except
for unchastity” as he did earlier in 5,32, and in doing so makes the teaching
of Jesus, a situational application rather than a legalistic code.
19,10-12 is exclusive to Matthew, and in
them Jesus responds to the comment of the disciples that it is better not to
marry. Those “who are made eunuchs by men” seems to refer to the pagan practice
of literal castration as a religious practice, and this is rejected by Jesus.
Those “who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom” seems to
refer to those who choose to remain celibate in order to concentrate more fully
on the kingdom, rather than get weighed down by family cares.
No matter what state of life one
chooses, one must remain faithful to one’s commitment in that state of life.
The grass seems greener on the other side, but only till we go to the other
side.
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