Hi everyone. Welcome back to logical bible study. This is the podcast where we do an exegesis of the Gospel text, we're really dive into the words. And the way we do it, is we look at the gospel text that is set aside for the day's Mass. So if you go to today's Catholic mass, you would hear from Matthew 19, verses 3 to Of and this is a really interesting passage in, there's a lot to say about it.
So let's get straight into it. Some Pharisees approached Jesus and to test him they said, Is it against the law for a man to divorce his wife on any pretext? Whatever he answered. Have you not read that? The Creator from the beginning made them male and female. And that he said this is why a man must leave his father and mother and cling to his wife and the two Become one body. They are no longer two there four, but one body. So then what God has United, man
must not divide. They said to him, then why did Moses command? That a writ of dismissal should be given in cases of divorce? It was because you were so unteachable. He said that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives but it was not like this from the beginning. Now, I say this to you, the man
who divorces his wife. I am not speaking of fornication, and marries another is guilty of adultery the disciples said to him, if that is how things are between husband and wife, it is not advisable to marry But he replied. It is not everyone who can accept what I have said. But only those to whom it is, granted there are eunuchs born that way from their mother's
womb. There are eunuchs made so by men and there are eunuchs, who have made themselves that way for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. Let anyone except this who can now, this passage is one of the most profound in the New Testament for helping helping us understand quite a few things,
the relationship. When the Old Testament and the New Testament, Jesus view of the law, Jesus view of himself, Jesus view of marriage, and all sorts of other, sacramental implications, which are really quite fascinating. And there's a whole lot of stuff to say. And the church has said, a lot about this particular text, this is the single most important texts in the Bible for understanding the Christian view of marriage and some have even
gone so far. As to say, that Jesus is the biggest offender of lifelong marriage. Thanks to this particular verse the biggest offender in history of marriage. So, let's talk about the context. So Jesus has just begun his journey to Jerusalem From Galilee and he's in this big crowd of pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem for Passover. So, he's in amongst big crowds here. They're moving From Galilee down to Judea, which is where Jerusalem is. But to get there, they have to
go through the region of perea. So the moving through the region of perea, now schools are pointed out. The fact that Jesus has this conversation that we're about to hear in perea, that might not be a coincidence. Korea is where John the Baptist preached and he was actually executed eventually for condemning divorce and remarriage of someone. If you remember, John the Baptist directly addressed Herod Antipas and his mistress herodias because they were getting divorced and remarried.
So he told them that that was not appropriate and that's what got him killed. So it was divorce and remarriage that got John, the Baptist killed and he probably preached that in Korea. That was certainly his main base of preaching was in prayer and now he's Jesus in perea, perhaps the Pharisees deliberately recognize.
Wow, Jesus is in perea, Jesus is a fan of John, the Baptist, I wonder if we can get Jesus in trouble for the same thing that John, the Baptist got in trouble for, so that might be at the back of the Pharisees mind here. We often miss that. So verse 2 says large crowds followed him and he healed Of there. So there's huge crowds here. A lot of them on the way to Jerusalem for the Passover probably. And probably also a lot of the people are not from the region of perea.
There's probably some there From Galilee who know, Jesus quite well. Also, some from Judea who've come out to the Wilderness to see, Jesus and Matthew here tells us he healed them there. So there's huge, huge crowds. And Jesus is, as he always does his healing as many people as he
possibly can. Verse 3, the Pharisees approached Jesus. So the Pharisees are the common teachers of the law for the common Jewish people and they usually take issue with Jesus because Jesus by now is an influential teacher of the law and he interpreted the law quite differently from them often radically so. And so they're quite afraid that he's going to show them up and in fact, they might lose some followers because people might start following Jesus rather than them.
And the text here says that they To test him. So, this is not a genuine question. Sometimes people come to Jesus with genuine questions as well. See, later in this chapter, but here the Pharisees, they're trying to trip him up there. Trying to get him to say something that will discredit him. And we already know that the Pharisees were resolved to destroy Jesus. We see this in 12:14. So here's the question that they asked him that sets it off.
Is it against the law for a man to divorce his wife on any pretext, whatever, or some other translations there will say for any reason, Now what is why they asking him? This question is it lawful is it against the law for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all? There's two different views about why the Pharisees might be asking him this. The main view that most people have gone for is has to do with this conflict that existed within the Pharisees at the time.
So, a bit of background the Mosaic law did allow divorce. And particularly in Deuteronomy 24, it talks about how to go about doing a But in the time of Jesus, there were different schools of thought among the Pharisees about when it was permitted to have a divorce because Deuteronomy 24, where it talks about divorce and Moses allows divorce. There's this ambiguous phrase in there.
Deuteronomy 24:1 says, a man may divorce his wife, if he finds anything indecent in her, but the text of Deuteronomy, doesn't tell them what indecent means. So in the time of Jesus, there's these disputes among the Pharisees who were the If the law are there us, what it means for, you know, what, counts as an indecent reason, what does it mean for a wife to be indecent.
So, there's there, was this school of thought, at the time of Jesus called, the Hillel school of thought, which followed Rabbi Hillel, and he taught that a woman could divorce his wife for any reason. At all, including burning dinner, he actually listed in there that if your wife Burns dinner, that's a good enough reason to divorce her, which is fascinating. So there were some Pharisees, who followed that healer or school of thought.
But there was another Rabbi shammai who said that indecency is a technical term that refers basically to sexual immorality. So the shammai school of thought said that a man could only divorce his wife in the case of a sexual immorality, and the Pharisees didn't agree with each other about this. There was different schools of thought. So one scholarly view of this, is that what the Pharisees are doing here is they're trying to get Jesus to comment on this
disputed issue. And so by doing that, he's bound to offend some people in the crowd and maybe lose some followers. That's what a lot of people have thought. But there's some problems with that view. There's an alternative you about. Why the Pharisees asking this question. And on this podcast, I try and give you the alternative views. And I think this alternative view is probably the more correct one.
Think about the first view. We talked about their they're trying to trap Jesus. Well, Jesus just giving his opinion on this sort of small dispute amongst the Pharisees that wouldn't really constitute a trap, but it's not a very good trap because it was a disputed issue. All the Jews knew that it was a disputed issue. So if Jesus came right out and said oh well I support this school of thought, it wouldn't really be a big deal. The Jews. Would you say?
Okay, that makes sense. So what's going on then? Well, on this alternative view the Pharisees by this point have heard that Jesus does not allow divorce and remarriage, he's already said that. Once he said that in chapter 5 in The Sermon on the Mount. So the Pharisees have heard that he doesn't like divorce and remarriage so now they come to Jesus with this question, let's read the question again that
they asked him. Is it against the law for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all. So basically they're asking Jesus, whether he thinks Divorce is lawful at all, they think they're asking him whether he thinks divorce is even lawful in the first place that would be what this alternative, you proposes. And that makes sense, because if you look at the parallel, passage in Mark, chapter 10 verse 2. That's exactly, that's exactly what it says.
It says that that's the reason they asked him. The question they want to know whether he supports divorce at all and whether he thinks it's lawful at all and so their reasoning is something like this. Well, Moses clearly allows divorce But we've heard that Jesus doesn't support divorce. And if we can get Jesus to say, to the crowds in front of the crowds, that he does not allow divorce. Well then everyone will realize these contradicted Moses and he has discredited himself.
So I think this interpretation makes more sense. They're not trying to get him to comment on which school of thought he favors the trying to get him to see whether he thinks divorce is lawful at all because Moses clearly did. This is Jesus response verse 4. Have you not read? Now, that's always an interesting thing for Jesus to say because he's speaking to the Pharisees that will be an insult to the Pharisees because they are the experts on the law.
So for him to say, have you not read that would really busy digging it in. Have you not read the creative from the beginning, made them male and female? And that he said this is why a man must leave the father and mother and cling to his wife and the two become one body or one flesh is what Says there. So notice what Jesus is doing here. They have just tried to put a law of Moses to Jesus to see if he's going to contradict it.
But Jesus, here is clever. He quotes from an even earlier book of Moses. So something else that Moses is written. So he's fighting Moses with Moses to make his point here, he's going right back to the beginning and he actually makes two separate quotes here. One from Genesis, 1 verse 27 and then one from Genesis 2 verse 24. So Jesus main point here is that if you want to God's original plan for marriage. In fact, Moses original plan for marriage.
Then you need to look at the earliest marriage that Moses wrote about which was Adam and Eve. So this is God's model for all marriages. It's am Adam and Eve Adam and Eve not what Moses said later in Deuteronomy. So that's the main point. He's made, then he goes on, they are no longer two, therefore, but one flesh. So then what God has United, man
must not divide. So here's the the big Point Jesus wants to make Jesus argument here is that God's plan as revealed in Adam and Eve in the Torah is that there shouldn't be any divorce at all. That's clear. When you look at Adam and Eve as God's plan for marriage and Jesus says here, he really wants them to understand that when a man and woman joined together in marriage.
God is joining them. And in fact, that's what Genesis said, but Jesus reminds them that when a man and woman come together, God joins them, therefore, he is Jesus. Man does not have the power to separate it because it's something that God has joined. Now that would have been quite a surprising answer for his audience because that's not the way that the later books in the Torah speak about it. Exodus and Deuteronomy they don't talk about marriage in
that way. But in the earliest chapters of the Bible, Jesus says that's exactly what it says. It says that God joins them together and by implication, According To Jesus, man does not have the power to separate it. So notice what Jesus has done here at this point, he's evaded. The Trap that they try to set for him by China, set up Moses versus Jesus. And so, what he does, Jesus does, is he quotes Moses from Genesis?
And so he turns the tables by showing that the Pharisees are the ones that are out of touch with God's true intention for married life as revealed in the Torah. So what he's basically said, is look, if you want to take the Torah seriously, go right back to the beginning and see what Moses said at the start. So it's a very clever tactic. He always tries to do this with the Pharisees, he points them back to the own Tech, their own texts that they hold in such
high regard. So that's what he said so far. He said that basically God joins man and woman together and therefore, divorce is not permitted man. Cannot separate a marriage because it's something God joins together. So verse 7, the Pharisees asked a reasonable question. They say, then, why did Moses command that have rid of dismissal should be given in cases of divorce? Now, that's a fair question because it is true that in Deuteronomy.
Moses actually allows divorce. It's pretty clear that Moses does allow it. So for them, it's a huge claim for Jesus to say that God doesn't want divorce. I mean that makes sense to us as Christians in the 21st century but for the Jews in Jesus time that's a huge claim because Moses himself allowed for divorce. In fact, he even gave laws about how to do a divorce. So this is a huge bombshell. So they mention here, a writ of
dismissal. So if you read Deuteronomy 24, verse 12 for talks about the most of the laws that Moses put in place about divorce and And basically the Jewish law there in Deuteronomy 24, a requires that in order for a man to divorce his wife, he had to go through the legal process of getting a certificate and then giving it to the woman that he
was going to divorce. So this was a legal document called a writ of dismissal here that the woman would receive and she could use that to prove that she's divorced. So basically it was to help protect the woman from abuse. It was a legal document that protected the woman and that's actually a huge development can Compared to other cultures at that time, period. Now in particular, if you read Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy 24, it seems that this Rich of
dismissal. The point of it was to prevent the original husband, from changing his mind and trying to get her to come back and marry him again later. If they have the rid of decision, she has the rid of dismissal, she can prove that. Actually I've already been married to this man once so he can't marry me again. So it's a really interesting kind of way that it works there. In Deuteronomy 24, it's actually to protect the rights of the
woman. Now we should listen to Jesus response here in verse 8. I think fundamentalists and certain Protestant groups could learn a lot from what Jesus responds here is inverse H. So Jesus directly addresses their question about why Moses commanded a rid of dismissal for divorce. He says it was because you were so unteachable that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives. Where our translation says unteachable. It literally says, because of
the hardness of your heart. Interesting, isn't it? That Jesus kind of groups together the Pharisees with the original Israelites here because of the hardness of your heart. Notice this this is really important that we as students of the Bible. Understand. This Jesus says, the reason that Moses gave this specific law was because the people in his time was so sinful, this is something
incredibly profound. God and Moses did not actually want divorce, but given the sinfulness of man and the lack of understanding of the Israelites at that point in time in Deuteronomy, it seemed that the people could not handle God's ultimate ideal of no divorce. So God has to compromise, God has to give them a less-than-ideal law. So God, Allows it allows divorce, but he puts in requirements in Deuteronomy 24 that will minimize the amount of abuse.
A woman would suffer as a result of divorce. And of course, compared to other societies at the time, that's a huge milestone. So let's say that again. God, Moses did not actually want to divorce, but because the Israelites sinfulness was so bad at the time. God actually had to allow it because they just will not allow able to live up to God's perfect ideal of no divorce. Jesus goes on but it was not like this from the beginning. So Jesus reminds the Pharisees that God's original plan for
creation. Even though Moses does allow divorce, God's original plan was that, man and woman should be joined for Life. There should be no divorce and if you look at Adam and Eve in the garden, that's pretty clear. But over the next few thousand years sin crept into the human race. To the point that divorce entered into the picture and then eventually God had to allow it for a time because of the stubbornness of And so he's a really important principle for interpreting the Old Testament
laws. When you open the Old Testament, you'll see all sorts of laws, some of them in Leviticus, some of them later on. Here's an important principle, some laws in the Old Testament are more important than others. Not all laws in the Old Testament are equally as important. This is something to Jews in Jesus time, didn't understand. This is something that some Christians did. I don't understand either. Not all of the laws in the Old Testament, correspond to God's
will equally some of them did. So for example, The Ten Commandments, it seems that they correspond pretty closely to
what God's will for man. Truly is The Ten Commandments are like the gold standard of God's law, but some of the later ones, particularly the ones in numbers and Deuteronomy, they're given quite reluctantly by God. Even if you've read The Narrative himself, God only gives those laws in numbers and Deuteronomy as a response to some sort of see Full act that the people are just committed in the wilderness.
So God puts in these laws to deal with the level of sin, which the Israelite people had accumulated. That means some of the laws in the Old Testament are provisional. They're not ideal. Even from God's perspective. So they don't correspond to God's Ultimate Will. That's actually stated later in the Old Testament. If you look at Malachi chapter 2 verse 6, it actually says that God gave them some laws which
are not good. That's actually in the Old Testament. Aunt itself, but the Jews and Jesus time had sort of forgotten that principle. But now Jesus comes along and he's come to reveal, what God's Ultimate Will is the things which best correspond to God's will, which means overturning some of the Old Testament laws, which do not correspond to God's Ultimate Will. Now, the region beyond the Jordan there in Korea, here,
remember? Interestingly, that's the place where Moses gave Israel. Many of the laws of Deuteronomy. If you go to Junior on Deuteronomy chapter 1, this is basically where he gives them these Deuteronomy laws.
So it seems like more than a coincidence that Jesus is about to repeal the Deuteronomy Deuteronomy, concession for divorce and remarriage in the very place where Moses basically gave it. It's interesting, isn't it when you look at it from a geographical perspective, So here as Christians, we believe that Jesus with his words he's just said restores Mary's to its original integrity and he elevates it to a New Covenant Sacrament prior to Jesus
marriage was a thing that was part of the natural order. But it wasn't a Sacrament here. Jesus makes it a Sacrament. Jesus is about to intensify it though. There's more verse 9 Jesus is going to now make it very clear that God does not want divorce and in fact, he's going to add more To that. He's going to say that divorce and remarriage is a Gravely sinful matter.
It's equivalent to adultery. So he says, now I say this to you notice, he's speaking this on his own authority, just as he did on The Sermon, on the Mount. I say this to you, this is the same teaching that he's already given in The Sermon on the Mount. Actually, if you look at chapter 5, he's already said these words once. But now he says it to the Pharisees Here's what he says the man. Who divorces his wife.
I am not speaking of fornication and marries another he is guilty of adultery So that's what we have here. Other translations, add in another phrase. So there might be a missing phrase here which is he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery and that same teaching, is something Jesus said earlier, in the Sermon on the Mount. So, even if this phrase is not in the original, it is something Jesus said earlier, in Matthew anyway, so there's no loss here.
If it's not supposed to be in this spot, but what he certainly does say, is the man who divorces his wife and marries another, he is guilty of adultery. Now, you might think. Why do we what's the focus on men? All about well Matthews version. When he narrates it for his audience here he focuses on men because he's a Jew and he's writing to Jews and in Jewish culture, only men had the right to divorce.
Now, if you look at marks version of this, which is in Mark chapter 10 verse 11 to 12, it seems like marks version is more word for word accurate here because he mentions the Jesus clearly intended this to apply to women as well or talks about how women. Here do the same thing. They also commit adultery but Matthew here focuses on the men because he's writing to Jewish audience who had this structure of divorce that revolved around men.
So what does Jesus say? It means if someone gets a legal divorce and marries another according to this passage here, he says, anyone who does that is guilty of adultery. Now notice this, it's not if you get divorced, you are committing adultery. If you get divorced and then marry another, that's what makes you guilty of adultery. So here with one sentence, basically Jesus overturns the legislation in Deuteronomy and he overturns all the debates in his time between different Pharisee.
Jesus gives a definitive interpretation. He gets rid of the legal allowance for divorce all together. He says, it's not permitted. Here Jesus clearly teaches that a legal divorce does not affect the status of marriage in the eyes of God. So I will say that again, legal divorce does not affect the status of the marriage, in the eyes of God.
Now, that's not the same as saying getting divorced, is equivalent to adultery, but it is saying that getting divorced does not affect the status of the marriage in the eyes of God. So in other words, According To Jesus, if two people get divorced, they actually still married, they're still one flesh joined by God. So this is the basis of the Catholic teaching on the indissolubility of marriage.
Jesus says, this is the reason why you can't get remarried if you're divorced because the one flesh still exists, and that's the Catholic teaching today. If someone gets divorced and attempts of remarriage, According To Jesus, and according to Catholic teaching, that is equivalent to adultery because they're still joined to their original partner. If they were, in fact, legitimately joined in marriage to someone. One prior to that. So many scholars have said that here.
Jesus makes himself History's. Greatest defender of the sanctity and permanency of marriage. This is something that wasn't taught in the Old Testament. Jesus, he reveals God's Ultimate Will for marriage, which is that it's just into soluble. And to remarry again, after divorce is a grave sin. This teaching is binding on anyone who claims to be a follower of Jesus, anyone who's in the kingdom of God. Now, that makes sense, doesn't
it? Because divorce was said, to be given, According To Jesus, due to the hardness of their hearts, in the Old Testament in the Old Testament, they didn't the Jews. Did not have the ability to live up to God's perfect will due to the effects of sin. But now, it's the New Covenant. And Jesus has revealed the keys to living in God's perfect will and he's given them. The means to live according to
God's will as well. So if Christians obey these principles that he's given in The Sermon on the Mount anyway, There's not going to be need for divorce, so that's one thing to say here, but there's also something else we need to consider which is the role of the Holy Spirit. Jesus probably intends his audience to understand that this kind of lifelong marriage. Jesus is talking about is going to involve a special kind of Grace. God gives Grace to people who are involved in these New
Covenant marriages. And this is what the Catholic comment around sacred. Scripture says about this consider the contrast that is drawn between Mosaic and take times if Moses permitted divorce and remarriage to accommodate the hard-heartedness of Israel. Then the messiah's repeal of this. Concession indicates a new human situation in which the heart is healed of its infirmity and divinely empowered to embrace marriage is a lifelong
commitment. It implies a regeneration of the human person from the inside out. Only when the Lord enriches our lives with his grace, can the ideal of marriage for human life? Become the real experience of And women joined together as one. So that's a nice quote there. Now, this is a long episode and there's still more to say. So we're about to go into a section here about the exception clause and there's a lot of meaty stuff to talk about here
as well. So this might be a good time for you to pause and come back to the episode because there's more really good stuff to say and this will end up being one of our longer episodes. But for good reason I think because there's a lot of decent exegesis stuff that we can do here. So we've established that Jesus here, teachers that divorce and then remarried is equivalent to adultery. But what about the exception Clause? There's this exception clause in
Matthews version. So let's go back and read what he said again. And this is in verse 9, the man who divorces his wife. I am not speaking of fornication and marries another is guilty of adultery. This is translated differently in different translations but there's this kind of phrasing brackets in the middle. The man who divorces his wife except for fornication is guilty of adultery. So what is this?
Exception Clause all about it revolves around this Greek word porneia except for the case of poor Nia and our translation makes that fornication others might render it sexual immorality, but it's a different word from adultery. So Jesus here is thinking of some sort of sexual act of some kind, which counts as an exception to his teaching. So let's start with what it does.
Not mean, Jesus clearly can't be saying this if someone in the marriage has relations with someone else, then to divorce them and marry, someone else would not be committing adultery that will be true strong. We don't want to say that if you get divorced and remarried then it doesn't count as adultery if your original partner had relations with someone else Jesus as well. See, Jesus clearly puts a ban here on doing any kind of divorce and remarriage.
So we that's certainly Not what he means by this exception, he's not making an exception to the divorce and remarriage Counting as adultery, but he must be making some sort of exception of some sort. Here, there's been lots of discussion about the best way to interpret this because Luke's version, if you look at Luke 16 Verse 18 and marks version Mark chapter 10, neither of them include this exception clause.
And then, if you look at 1 Corinthians 7 verses 10 to 11 and Romans 7 to 23. They also don't have an exception Clause either. They just say that married people. Should not divorce. So, it seems that Matthew has got this exception clause in there. Now, Matthew hasn't made up this, these words, obviously, Jesus did a say this, but the other gospel writers didn't feel that it was relevant to Their audience to include, but Matthew does feel the Jesus.
Exception Clause here is relevant for his audience. Now based on the disciples reaction in verse 10, which will get too soon, it really does seem that Jesus is making a total prohibition on divorce and remarriage. So we have to keep that in mind. So what does it mean that when
he has this exception Clause? Well, if you look at the version of this in The Sermon on the Mount, so that's in Matthew Chapter 5 towards the end that putt that version is actually a bit easier to interpret that version of the exception clause. And if you remember in that episode we talked about how in The Sermon on the Mount. There's a phrase that says anyone who does this makes her an adulteress Now that would be quite easy to interpret because it focuses on the woman and what
the word adulterous means. But our version of Matthew 19 does not have this. So we're going to have to go with a different interpretation. What does the exception clause mean? Lots of different interpretations. Lots of debate about what this word porneia means. There's at least five different interpretations. So the first interpretation that we'll look at in, this is the one that was held by the
majority of the church fathers. So this was quite a common theory, it's this Jesus is allowing separation in cases when the partner commits sexual adultery. So here's exception Clause is allowing for separation if the partner commits sexual adultery of some sort. So, on this interpretation, Jesus here is basically taking the side of the rabbi of the rabbinic school of shammai. He's saying that Divorce is never allowed except in cases where the partner is sexually immoral.
Now that would answer the divorce question, and basically, it would mean Jesus says divorce is okay, but Jesus is clearly not approving of remarriage even on this view. So even if this view is correct, the divorce would not dissolve, the marriage bond. So remarriage is not permitted, even if you take this view. So a lot of church fathers said that, that's what Jesus meant your, he is allowing Separation on the basis of sexual immorality.
And that does seem to be supported by Paul's later, teaching that if spouses separate, they either need to reconcile or remain single. Now, there's a couple of problems with this view. It could be right, we can't rule it out, certainly, but some problems that are worth thinking about If this is what Jesus meant it wouldn't it as we said before this isn't a very good trap of Jesus because either of you would be perfectly respectable if the Trap that the
Pharisees are setting. Here is to see which school of thought Jesus would fall into then. It's not particularly exciting. It's not even a big deal because either of you is perfectly acceptable and it wouldn't really caused an uproar if you favored, one of the views. But that doesn't seem to square with the disciples reaction in verse 10 because they're genuinely shocked by what Jesus
says it's not. Like Jesus has said something that they'd heard before this is something entirely new that has just said, they clearly see something that Jesus has said, there's something entirely new and radical, that wouldn't make sense if he's just siding with shammai. So there's some arguments against this view, that Jesus is allowing divorce in cases of sexual immorality, but that's certainly Within Me to Catholic teaching.
Catholic teaching just says that divorce and then remarriage is not okay, but this view says that perhaps Jesus is allowing separation or divorce in some cases. Let's quickly. Look at some other views though. There is another view that says the word porneia refers to incestuous. Marriage has if you look at Leviticus 18 in this case, the marriage was never valid in the first place because they married someone that was a close
relation of them. So therefore no adultery is Is done, if you separate from them because you weren't married in the first place. And there's some, if you look at 1 Corinthians 5:1, that's clearly the way the word point a is used and maybe Matthew has to point this out to his readers because he's writing in what appears to be an Eastern
Mediterranean context. And sort of incestuous marriage is a pretty common in that part of the world may be poor narrow first and marriage with the Gentile. And that would not be acceptable in the eyes of God. And Matthew is highlighting that for his Which Raiders and again in that case, that would mean the marriage was not valid in the first place. So two separate or to divorce, does not count as adultery because there was no marriage
there. Again, that would explain why Matthew includes the phrase since these audience is Jewish and the concern with Gentile relationships but Luke does not. Maybe porn a, and this is an interesting Theory. Maybe porneia refers to sexual activity. With someone else before a marriage is consummated. So, in this case, since your marriage with that person has not yet been consummated, it's not yet into soluble.
So if one of the partners has a sexual relationship prior to the marriage ceremony, well, then you were never married and therefore the planned marriage can be dissolved. Now, this is a really interesting Theory because only Matthew mentions. This exception Clause, what's something else that are only Matthew mentions? Well only Matthew mentions that Joseph had plan to divorce.
Marry for this very reason Joseph suspected that Mary had had sexual relationships with another man During the patroller period, if you can read that in Matthew chapter 1, verse 19. So that would explain this exception as well. And there's another to interpretation that sometimes called the no comment view which basically says that Jesus is deliberately not making a comment to you. So when he says whoever divorces his wife and marries another, maybe it could be rendered this way.
I'm not going into the subject of unchastity commits adultery. As in the exception Clause basically means I'm not going to comment on this particular matter. So again that would explain my Matthew includes the exception Clause because the Jews would Interested in which side of the debate, the Jesus falls on, so I've given you about five
different views. All of them are permitted within Catholic teaching as long as one does not say Jesus supports divorce and remarriage, then any interpretation which is reasonable would be acceptable there. Hopefully that was a useful exegetical exercise now. Verse 10, the disciples said to him so now the disciples going to react to what Jesus said not the Pharisees, the disciples are going to react They say if that is how things are between
husband and wife. So as in, if those are the circumstances under which a divorce, her husband can divorce his wife then it is not advisable to marry. So they're shocked by Jesus. Strictness here. He's completely overturned. The long-standing permission given in the Old Testament. Jesus has just told them that a man is never Justified to divorce and then get remarried and the disciples are shocked. They were incredulous that should tell. Is that what Jesus has just
said, he's radical. He obviously hasn't just said, you can get divorce and then maybe get remarried in some situations. He's clearly just said that you can't get divorced and then remarried. And that's why they're shocked husbands and wives are bound together by the sacrament of one flesh. So, why is there a media response here? Something like this. It is not advisable to marry.
To us. When we hear that, that might seem like the being like, they're overreacting a bit, the being a bit selfish by saying it's not advisable to marry then, but think about the culture, divorce was pretty common in the ancient world, including in some Jewish circles. So, the disciples probably can't imagine a marriage that where a man is not allowed to divorce his wife, if the wife is doing the wrong thing.
So they decide that given Jesus high standards here, they say, well, it's better not to get married in the first place. Now, we sometimes miss this. Jesus does not deny that, he seems to agree with them that it's better not to get married in the first place. That seems a bit controversial, isn't it? But he seems to agree with them. Look at the next thing. He says verse 11, it is not everyone who can accept what I have said or more literally Not all men can receive this precept.
So our translation, there is confusing because it makes you think that he's talking about what Jesus himself, just said. But actually, what it really says, there is not all men can receive this precept. So what's the this precept? It seems the precept is thinking of is what the disciples just said, which is it is not better to marry. That's the phrase that Jesus is now focusing on. It is not better to Mary and Jesus says, it is not everyone
who can accept that. What does it mean to say that, not all men can accept. This isn't Jesus teaching. Binding on all Christians. How can you say that? Only some Christians can accept it. Well, he tells us, he says, only those to whom it is, granted can accept this. So, in other words, only some Christians are granted the Grace from God. Not to marry. This is interesting, isn't it?
Because Jesus seems to be setting up unmarried life as the ideal, but he's saying that only some Christians will be given the Grace from God to accept that or to pursue that this is an important and quite specific teaching. It tells us that only some people are given God's grace to accept the teaching that it's better. Not to marry. And that's important that we understand that because Paul lighter would say, I wish that everyone wasn't married like me. But so we're lucky here.
That Jesus says that only some people are given the Grace from God to actually fulfill that calling. Jesus, is now going to describe celibacy in quite glowing terms, and that's pretty surprising. Because Judaism saw procreation is a duty rather than an option. But Jesus here is going to say it's actually quite a good thing. To do celibacy. It's a good option, at the time of Jesus. There was a one group of Jews that highly regarded celibacy. So that will be the essence in
qumran. And this is one of the reasons why, some people think Jesus was quite influenced by the essence because he agreed with him about celibacy here because no other Jewish group. Basically, thought that celibacy was a good call calling for life. It was only the dawn of Christianity that celibacy became a mainstream way of Pleasing God before that. It was basically saying that if you want to please God, you've got to get married. It's an obligation.
So verse 12, Jesus here is going to mention Unix and this is our last verse. So what's a eunuch? A eunuch is basically a man who in that culture, they can't have sexual intercourse and Jesus is going to talk about three different kinds of Unix. He says there are eunuchs that are born that way from their mother's womb. So unfortunately some males were born with deformities meaning that they can't have intercourse. Jesus says there are eunuchs made so by men.
So again In some cultures including Jesus Culture, It's really interesting, practice some jobs for men, require them to be eunuchs. In fact, they're made eunuchs before they start their job, which is pretty full-on, but
that's what happened. For example, it was pretty common in Royal courts to put a man in charge of the women in the Royal Court. So, like the princesses and the other girls in the Royal Court would be overseen by an older man, but the king and the Royal leaders in order to make sure that this man overseeing The girls did not violate them, they
would make him a eunuch. So as part of the job description, And then Jesus says, there are eunuchs who made themselves that way for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. Now that corresponds pretty well to the last group because sort of those men in the Royal courts who became a Unix often there would do it voluntarily because they loved their King so much. They were willing to become eunuchs in order to serve the king. So, that's a nice parallel to
what Jesus says here. Some eunuchs make themselves that way for the Kingdom of Heaven. This is the most important category. This Is the one Jesus wants his disciples to understand and it's something that's entirely new celibacy for the sake of God was an entirely new teaching to them. Jesus teaching here is that there's men probably women as well, who choose not to get married and embrace celibacy.
And in fact that's a good calling, that is away, imitating Jesus. And as part of their Ministry, in the kingdom of God, they have chosen celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom. So, that's what it means to become a eunuch for the sake of the kingdom, of means to give up on Marriage, in to give up on sexual intimacy. It's to embrace the celibacy people like this. According to Paul can devote themselves entirely to God. So celibacy is a bit of a strange Topic in Christian
circles. But even Paul himself says, celibacy, is a lifestyle that allows a man and a women as well, to be entirely devoted to God. So in this sense, people who choose cell See for the kingdom who choose to be eunuchs for the kingdom. They anticipate what life will be like in heaven. If you look at 2:30, Jesus talks about how the angels are also celibate. And so in that sense Servants of the Kingdom who are eunuchs? They're getting ready for heaven. Well, their mimic, what life is
like in heaven. So this text and other texts from Paul are the foundation for the Catholic teaching the most priests and Bishops Bishops should be celibate as part of their service to the kingdom. Jesus finishes, by saying, let anyone except this, who can or what it actually says, there is a, he who is able to receive it, let him receive it. So, what's Jesus saying here about being a eunuch, being celibate for the kingdom, he acknowledges that not all Christians will be able to accept it.
In fact, probably not all Christians will be given the grace to do it, but he's nevertheless encouraging Christians to accept it. And to think about it. Jesus encourages the celibate way of life, and he says, it's valuable in the Kingdom. Gee, we can't get out of this. Jesus is saying that celibacy ought to be embraced by his many people in the Kingdom as possible. He's not saying that it's possible for everyone, but it's saying it ought to be embraced if possible.
Now, later in Catholic, teaching are the Council of Trent teachers that if this is sort of a Catholic fact that the objective state of celibacy Is higher than the married. Life is a higher calling and it is more pleasing to God.
However, luckily the Council of Trent qualifies that and says that both vocations are important in the church's life, we need both and they're both mirror aspects of God's love differently, but celibacy is the objectively higher, calling you might not have heard that before, but that is part of Catholic teaching. So, that's a long episode there, isn't it? There's heaps and heaps of stuff that we've said, and And hopefully, you've seen that.
It's valuable to dive into the text in this way. So I'll just ask you to think about giving to this ministry. If you have learned something from today's episode, it took me quite a while to prepare for this episode quite a few hours actually. And then to record it as well. This is one of these bigger episodes and if you believe that the work that we're doing through this ministry is helping you understand the Bible and draw you closer to the kingdom.
Then please consider becoming a financial supporter of the ministry. There's information about that in the show notes. Now, there's all sorts of amazing paragraphs in the catechism which talk about Catholic marriage, which talk about marriage in the old Covenant, which quote from what Jesus says here. And I'd love to read them all out to you, but it's already a very long episode, but these paragraphs are some of the best
written in the entire catechism. I think about the purpose of marriage, and how Jesus gives Grace for the New Covenant marriage is as well. So, and even talks about virgins, Christian virgins, who choose to be But for the sake of the Kingdom, that's covered in the catechism as well. All sorts of fascinating stuff in there that link to this page to this passage. There's about 10 paragraphs actually. So I'll include those in the show notes for you to look at thank you once again for
listening. I hope you've learned something new, I certainly did, as I Was preparing for this podcast, please keep the ministry in your prayers and will continue in Matthew in the coming days.