Matthew 19:1-6

Matthew 19:1-6

And it became, when Jesus finished these words, He moved away from Galilee and came into the region of Judea on the other side of the Jordan.  And great crowds followed Him, and He healed them there.  And Pharisees drew near to Him while trying to catch Him in a mistake and while saying, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife according to every reason?”  And the one who answered said, “Did you not read that the one who created from the beginning made them male and female?  And He said, ‘Because of this a man will depart from father and mother and he will join himself to his wife.  And the two will be into one flesh.  Therefore, they are no longer two but rather one flesh.  Therefore, what God joined in marriage a man should not separate.”

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Before we get to this section of teaching from Jesus, let’s look at His response to the crowds.  The crowds continue to follow Jesus.  Jesus knows that His time is drawing to a close.  He knows the trap is beginning to form around Him.  But He continues to work.  He continues to heal.  He continues to show people the love of God.  All the way up to the end, Jesus continues to be willing to put God’s love for the people on display.

Why is it neat to continue to hear that Jesus healed people up to the end?  What does this show us about His focus?

Second Thought:

Jesus is then met by Pharisees.  Again they try and trap Him.  There is a really sad point here.  They aren’t interested in listening to Jesus.  They aren’t even interested in seeking out truth.  Their mind is made up.  Their decision has been made.  They are simply now looking for a means to the end.  They are lurking and watching and evaluating everything Jesus does.  I think that it is important to remember this fact.  We’d like to believe that the average person is willing to listen and come without an agenda.  Some people are.  But some people aren’t.  Some people cannot be reached once their mind is made up against you.  Those people will simply look for a way to entrap you.  That’s what the Pharisees are doing to Jesus here.

Knowing this, why is it even more impressive that Jesus continued to do the will of God even when He knew people were out to get Him?  What does this say to you about your approach to doing the work of God?  What does this say about the motives of mankind?

Third Thought:

We’ll leave the topic of divorce for tomorrow.  Today, we’ll talk about marriage.  Look at Jesus’ words clearly.  It is god who joins people.  It is God who marries people.  Pastors and judges do not marry people.  They merely stand in as God’s analog.  It is God who does anything meaningful with respect to the actual joining of people.  God is what keeps marriages together and makes them possible.

Why is it important to understand that the foundation of a good marriage is God?  How does impact our thoughts about getting marriage and the importance of staying married?

Passage for Tomorrow: Matthew 19:7-9