04-30-2022, 03:10 PM
Matthew places this teaching during the time Jesus was in Judea leading up to His Last Passover. It's a very hard teaching that a great many church folks would prefer to ignore.
The Pharisees approached Jesus to dispute with Him about something He had said not long ago, criticizing the Pharisees for trading wives like domestic livestock. So they asked Him whether the Law permitted them to divorce a wife for just about any reason or excuse a man chose. This was pretty much what their oral traditions said, but Moses was intended to be more strict than that.
Jesus cut to the heart of the problem. When you look at the Creation narrative, God made man and woman, and intended them to stay together for life. The teaching was plain: two shall become one flesh. This is a miracle of God, not some human choice. People can choose not to marry, but once wed, God has wired them to imprint on their first sex partner. Once that imprint is made, it can never be broken. It can be abused and forsaken, but it can never be broken. This is well known medical fact.
This is what Jesus is talking about. God made us this way. We are supposed to imprint and never part. Obviously we are supposed to be very careful about whom we propose to marry. It's not a frivolous social convenience, but a total change of heart. You now belong to someone for life. Any subsequent partner gets a broken spouse, and it will weaken the bond between the two.
You cannot undo this. You could try to ignore it at your peril; doing so would defile you in God's eyes, another aspect Jesus mentions here. So, the Pharisees ask: Why would Moses give such a low standard? Jesus said it was because the Israelis were particularly hard-hearted toward God's ways. But Moses' weak command was not the standard starting from the Garden of Eden.
Jesus then reinforced this teaching by warning that in the Father's eyes, divorce and remarriage made former spouses into adulterers. This was no small matter.
Once the debate was ended, the Twelve remarked that this was indeed a very high standard. This being so very hard, maybe it was better not to marry. Jesus responded that this kind of thing was only possible by divine calling. If God doesn't give you the conviction to live like this, you won't be able to do it.
He goes on the mention that there three kinds of eunuchs: those born that way, those made that way by third parties, and those who voluntarily chose it in order to keep peace with God. Without conviction, you could never do it voluntarily.
Whether or not you want to read this as a reference to literal castration or some kind of symbolism doesn't make any difference. In God's eyes, you can have either zero or one sex partner for life. Granted, widows and widowers can justly remarry. However, it's not the ideal situation, because the imprint is still there. The Levirate Law suggests that imprinting is less of an issue with close kin, something otherwise unthinkable. However, the whole question there is a measure of feudalism, something wholly rejected by modern western populations.
Still, this comes from the mouth of the Master Himself. We dare not suggest He didn't mean it to apply to us today. Just because it's so hard is no excuse for ignoring it. Paul goes into this issue at length in his letters, but the fundamental principle doesn't change: If you get this wrong, you will forever lose a part of your shalom that can never be recovered. The best answer is to be very, very careful in choosing to marry in the first place. You only get one shot.
The Pharisees approached Jesus to dispute with Him about something He had said not long ago, criticizing the Pharisees for trading wives like domestic livestock. So they asked Him whether the Law permitted them to divorce a wife for just about any reason or excuse a man chose. This was pretty much what their oral traditions said, but Moses was intended to be more strict than that.
Jesus cut to the heart of the problem. When you look at the Creation narrative, God made man and woman, and intended them to stay together for life. The teaching was plain: two shall become one flesh. This is a miracle of God, not some human choice. People can choose not to marry, but once wed, God has wired them to imprint on their first sex partner. Once that imprint is made, it can never be broken. It can be abused and forsaken, but it can never be broken. This is well known medical fact.
This is what Jesus is talking about. God made us this way. We are supposed to imprint and never part. Obviously we are supposed to be very careful about whom we propose to marry. It's not a frivolous social convenience, but a total change of heart. You now belong to someone for life. Any subsequent partner gets a broken spouse, and it will weaken the bond between the two.
You cannot undo this. You could try to ignore it at your peril; doing so would defile you in God's eyes, another aspect Jesus mentions here. So, the Pharisees ask: Why would Moses give such a low standard? Jesus said it was because the Israelis were particularly hard-hearted toward God's ways. But Moses' weak command was not the standard starting from the Garden of Eden.
Jesus then reinforced this teaching by warning that in the Father's eyes, divorce and remarriage made former spouses into adulterers. This was no small matter.
Once the debate was ended, the Twelve remarked that this was indeed a very high standard. This being so very hard, maybe it was better not to marry. Jesus responded that this kind of thing was only possible by divine calling. If God doesn't give you the conviction to live like this, you won't be able to do it.
He goes on the mention that there three kinds of eunuchs: those born that way, those made that way by third parties, and those who voluntarily chose it in order to keep peace with God. Without conviction, you could never do it voluntarily.
Whether or not you want to read this as a reference to literal castration or some kind of symbolism doesn't make any difference. In God's eyes, you can have either zero or one sex partner for life. Granted, widows and widowers can justly remarry. However, it's not the ideal situation, because the imprint is still there. The Levirate Law suggests that imprinting is less of an issue with close kin, something otherwise unthinkable. However, the whole question there is a measure of feudalism, something wholly rejected by modern western populations.
Still, this comes from the mouth of the Master Himself. We dare not suggest He didn't mean it to apply to us today. Just because it's so hard is no excuse for ignoring it. Paul goes into this issue at length in his letters, but the fundamental principle doesn't change: If you get this wrong, you will forever lose a part of your shalom that can never be recovered. The best answer is to be very, very careful in choosing to marry in the first place. You only get one shot.