The consequences of our unyielding hearts

“It wasn’t that way from the beginning”

Matthew 19

Our story opens today with Pharisees yet again testing Jesus. This time, it’s about the historical and religious justification for divorce. They’re so insistent on trying to trip Jesus up, though, that you can tell they’re not really paying attention to what he says.

They ask Jesus if the Law allows anyone to get divorced for any reason. Jesus quotes Genesis 1 to answer them, saying that a man will leave his father and mother, join with his wife, and that “the two will be one flesh.” He emphasizes the point again, saying, “So they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore, humans must not pull apart what God has put together.”

The Pharisees (I’m sure) haven’t heard any of this—they knew what Jesus would say. They’ve been waiting to spring the trap: “They why did Moses command us to give a divorce certificate and divorce her?” You can tell they’re almost gleeful here. They think they’ve finally got Jesus stuck in a theological pickle that he can’t get out of. They still have a lot to learn.

Jesus replies that, “Moses allowed you to divorce your wives because your hearts are unyielding. But it wasn’t that way from the beginning.” This is such a sad statement. I imagine Jesus saying this like a disappointed father. He’s fed up with the Pharisees, but mostly I think this makes him sad.

It really captures how broken humanity is without God. It’s heartbreaking that God felt like he had to make an allowance for married people to get divorced because our hearts are too unyielding to make peace with our spouses. That’s not to say that there aren’t good reasons for divorce—Jesus even specifies one here (sexual unfaithfulness). It’s just sad that “it wasn’t this way from the beginning.” You can tell Jesus is referencing that time before we had sinned—how we were created to live. That is, in peace and harmony with each other, forgiving daily and walking (quite literally) in fellowship with our God. That picture is nearly magical.

The disciples have an even sadder response: ‘well…if that’s the way it is…ummm…should we even get married? Wouldn’t it be better for everyone to just stay single?’

Jesus tackles this one with grace, per usual. He says that some people have received the ability to become or remain eunuchs. But he also makes it very clear that that is one of many paths, and that not one of these paths is necessarily more right than another. He simply says that if someone has been called to that path, they should walk it well.

As the story continues, a young, wealthy man comes up and asks Jesus what good thing he needs to do to get into heaven. Jesus looks at him quizzically, asking why he is concerned about “what is good? There is only one who is good.” Jesus tells the young man that he just needs to keep all the commandments. The young man says that he has, in fact, kept them all, but he still isn’t certain about his position for eternity.

At this point you start to wonder if this is one of those situations where he knows what he needs to do but really doesn’t want to, so he’s hoping he’ll get a different answer from Jesus than he’s getting from himself. Sure enough, Jesus tells the man that he needs to go, sell all his possessions, and give the proceeds to the poor. This is where you can just see that young man sigh dejectedly, hang his head a little, and wander off. He knows he shouldn’t have as much as he does. There are too many people who have too little. But he is going to have a really difficult time letting go.

As the young man wanders off, Jesus takes the opportunity to tell his disciples that it will be “easier for a camel to squeeze through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter God’s kingdom.” The text says his disciples were stunned to hear this. They immediately question him about who can be saved. At first glance, this is a silly question. Obviously, all the poor people will have no trouble, and most of the middle class. Even some of the upper class folks may get in. Right?

Not so fast. I think that while the question was poorly asked (or recorded), Jesus takes the time to answer seriously. The text says he looked at them carefully before speaking. I imagine he was acting much like a teacher making sure all his students are actually listening. Once he was sure, he says “It’s impossible for human beings. But all things are possible with God.”

Surely this is one of the most important things in Scripture. And it’s not the first time we’ve encountered it. A few chapters ago, Jesus talked about the fact that it wasn’t any person that showed the disciples who Jesus was; only God can reveal the truth from the Scripture to people. Like a few other topics, we’re starting to repeat this—humans can’t save themselves. We just can’t get there. We can’t know God on our own. God has to make himself known to us, and with his mercy we have our salvation.