Answering the Call (Matthew 19)
After Jesus leaves Galilee and comes to Judea, the Pharisees came up to ask him a question. The text specifically says it was a test. It seems like a loaded question: “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” The Law did allow for a man to divorce his wife, and the rules for when that could happen were pretty vague (see Deut. 24). Religious leaders disagreed about when that really was OK. Jesus is being asked to choose sides. The Pharisees thrived on these kinds of doctrinal, rule-based arguments. Jesus did not.
His answer is very much in keeping with what he’s taught all through Matthew, and especially in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus said over and over in that sermon, “You have heard it is written… but I tell you” – emphasizing that he’s looking for something that goes beyond the letter of the law, and instead is focused on a much tougher standard: a heart that is in concert with God’s heart. Similarly, in this situation Jesus doesn’t answer them specifically with what the Law says. Instead, he goes back to God’s original intent and desire. God created man and woman to be together, to leave behind father and mother for each other, to hold fast to each other, and to become one. So this is easy for Jesus: don’t separate what God has put together.
That’s not enough for the Pharisees. The Law gave permission to divorce. They ask him why. Jesus’ answer is surprising to me. He tells them that in the Law, Moses allowed that because of their “hard hearts”, but that wasn’t the way it was in the beginning – it wasn’t God’s intent and desire. This really seems strange to me – it sounds to me like he’s saying that God allowed something that he wasn’t happy with. As I ponder on this, I realize that this isn’t the only time this has happened. The first example that comes to my mind is when the Israelites asked for a King. God’s design was that he would be their one and only King. They wanted to be like their neighbors, though, and have a powerful, earthly King. God, through his prophet, warned them of what that would mean. It saddened them that they were rejecting him this way. He could have said no. Instead, he granted their wish, knowing that it would end up badly for them.
There’s an important lesson here, and one that gives insight into why Jesus’ teaching is so different, and sometimes very difficult. “Lawful” doesn’t necessarily mean “Good”. What is “allowed” doesn’t necessarily equal “best”. Jesus calls us to something better (and harder) than what’s “allowed”. He calls us to come back to the heart of God and what his intent was for us all along. “You’ve heard it was written… but I say….”
Jesus does go ahead and give the Pharisees a rule, since that is what they’re looking for. Taking things further than the Law, in keeping with God’s intent, Jesus tells them not to divorce. If a man divorces a woman for any reason other than sexual immorality and then marries someone else, it’s adultery, a sin.
The disciples don’t get it. They remain fixed on what they’ve always known and always thought – their culture, their history, their practice. Their reaction: if that’s the case, it’s better not to marry, and stay celibate. Here’s another doctrinal issue, one that people still argue about. Jesus’ reaction is pretty non-committal. For some people, that’s not such a bad idea… but it’s not for everyone. “Not everyone can receive this saying but only those to whom it is given…Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.”
Matthew next relates a story of some children being brought to Jesus. What the people want is for him to lay hands on them and pray. Despite what Jesus had to say about children in Chapter 18, the disciples “rebuked the people” – they try to stop them. They don’t get it. I’ve heard people guess at their motive – they’re trying to keep Jesus from being bothered, they think children (who had no real status in that day) should be seen and not heard, and not worth Jesus’ time – but whatever their reason, it doesn’t matter to Jesus. He told them in Chapter 18 that they need to be like children, and that whoever receives a little child is receiving him. He echos that here: “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven”. I believe that a child is the closest thing on earth to the people God originally intended us to be before the fall. Jesus loves to have the children with him, and wanted his disciples to be like them. He did as the people asked, and “laid his hands on them” before moving on to another place.
Next in Matthew’s account comes another question for Jesus. This one seems genuine; it doesn’t seem to be a test for Jesus… but ends up being a test for the man. “Teacher,” he asks, “what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”.
The goal is good, but his idea of how to get there is a bit off. What good deed must I do? How can I earn my way in by my goodness, the things I do? Just tell me, and I’ll do it. We learn a few sentences further into the story that he was a man with a lot of possessions – a successful man, a rich man. It’s likely that hard work had gotten him there, and he though eternal life could be earned the same way.
His understanding may have been incorrect, and Jesus challenges his thinking. He challenges this whole notion of being good enough: there is only One who is good. Only God is good enough. Then Jesus runs with the notion for a moment. How do you enter eternal life? Follow the commandments.
The man asks which ones. Jesus runs off a list of five of the ten commandments – the five that have to do with how we treat others. He tops it off with God’s command that sums up all the Law as it relates to other people: love your neighbor as yourself. So much of Jesus’ teaching has focused on our relationships with each other as a concrete way of living out our relationship with God, and so it is here.
The man replies – a little too quickly, I think – that he’s kept all those commands. Really? OK, it’s easy enough to say you haven’t murdered anyone or committed adultery, but you’ve never been dishonest? You’ve truly loved your neighbor as yourself, no exceptions? That’s his response, though, and he follows it with, “what more do I lack?” Is there anything else?
Think back to the times we’ve seen Jesus call someone as we’ve gone through Matthew. Peter and Andrew were called to leave their nets behind, and they immediately did so. James and John were called to leave the boat and their father, and they did so. Matthew was called to leave the tax collector’s table and follow Jesus, and he immediately did so. Others have talked of following Jesus, but asked to take care of other business, and Jesus’ answer was to let the dead bury their dead, come and follow me. The call requires sacrifice and immediate response. Nothing can come before Jesus.
Keeping with those examples, Jesus issues a call to the man in the story. His personal call of sacrifice. What else should you do? Sell what you own and give to the poor (now that’s loving your neighbor!). That’s how you’ll get treasure in heaven. Come, follow me.
It was more than that man was willing to sacrifice. Doing good things was something he could handle, but this was asking too much. He left in sorrow.
In the Sermon on the Mount in Chapter 6, Jesus said our focus can’t be on earthly treasures, but on “treasures in heaven”. Either our possessions or God will be our master – we can’t serve them both. This man is living proof of those truths, and Jesus continues to teach the disciples after the man leaves about the difficulty for a rich man to enter heaven.
Once again, the disciples don’t get it. In their culture, to be rich was a sign of God’s favor. If those people can’t make it into the kingdom, who can? No one can, on their merits. “There’s only one who is good”. “With man, this is impossible, but with God all things are possible”.
There’s much the disciples didn’t “get”, three things just in this chapter. They did, however, make the sacrifice to answer his call. Peter asks, having given up everything, what their outcome will be. Jesus confirms that there truly will be a great reward for that. For them specifically, a throne judging the twelve tribes of Israel. For anyone who has sacrificed, given up what was important to them to answer his call, they “will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life”.
There is so much to apply from this chapter. Jesus’ call for us today is the same as it was when he was in Judea. First, we have to leave our preconceptions behind; our understanding based on our culture, how we were raised, even sometimes our “religion” isn’t sufficient. Our call is not to live by what is “allowed” – we have a higher calling. A calling to have the kingdom heart, led to please God. A child-like heart, a humble heart. Jesus’ calling requires that he comes first, before anything else. How we treat others is major mark of how serious we take his calling.
