Matthew 19 - Introduction

CHAPTER NINETEEN OUTLINES

Section 47. In Perea Jesus Teaches on Marriage, Divorce and Celibacy (Matthew 19:1-12)

Section 48: Jesus Blesses Little Children (Matthew 19:13-15)

Section 49. Jesus Tests Rich Young Ruler and Encourages Apostles (Matthew 19:16-30)

STUDY OUTLINE
CHAPTER THEME:
THE LORDSHIP OF GOD IN HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS

I.

MALE-FEMALE RELATIONSHIPS (Marriage, Divorce, the Single Life: Matthew 19:1-12; Mark 10:1-12)

A.

GENERAL SITUATION: Great popularity of Jesus in Herod's territory, Perea. (Matthew 19:1-2)

B.

IMMEDIATE SITUATION: Pharisees endeavor to embroil Jesus in controversy that would destroy His credibility and bring Him into conflict with the adulterer-divorcees, Herod and Herodias. (Matthew 19:3) For what reasons may we get rid of our wife?

C.

JESUS-' RESPONSE: (Matthew 19:4-12) Start looking for reasons to keep your wife!

1.

Adopt God's original intention which was marriage, not divorce. (Matthew 19:4-6) God, not man, is the Lord of marriage.

2.

Mosaic legislation on divorce was permissive because of the inhumanity of unregenerate men, but does not reflect God's original design for the family. (Matthew 19:7-8)

3.

Any divorce for any reason other than unchastity encourages adultery through marriage of divorced persons. (Matthew 19:9)

D.

THE DISCIPLES-' STUNNED OBJECTION: Better never to marry! (Matthew 19:10)

E.

JESUS-' REACTION: Only those who have the gift to live the single life are able to accept your conclusion; otherwise, no. Celibacy should be a personal choice based upon one's gifts and how one can serve God in the Kingdom. (Matthew 19:11-12)

II.

ADULT-CHILD RELATIONSHIPS (Matthew 19:13-15; Mark 10:13-16; Luke 18:15-17)

A.

SITUATION: Parents bring children to Jesus for blessing.

B.

DISCIPLES-' REACTION: They hinder the parents, rebuking them for the nuisance. Children do not count, are not important to progress of the Kingdom!

C.

JESUS-' ANGRY REACTION: Children are so important to the Kingdom that they are the only sort of folks of which the Kingdom is made!

1.

God's Kingdom belongs to such humble, trusting, teachable people, and to NO ONE ELSE!

2.

Permit the children to come to me and He took them into His arms and blessed them.

III.

RICH-POOR RELATIONSHIPS (Matthew 19:16-30; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-30)

A.

SITUATION: Rich young ruler questions Jesus on the one, all-essential good deed to inherit eternal life. (Matthew 19:16)

B.

JESUS-' RESPONSE (Matthew 19:17-19)

1.

He challenged the young man's understanding of Jesus-' position and his own comprehension of what is really good: On what basis do you call me what is true absolutely only of God, and desire to know-' from me what only God can know?

2.

He furnished the commandments God had already revealed.

C.

THE YOUNG MAN INSISTS ON PERFECTION (Matthew 19:20)

D.

JESUS OFFERED PERFECTION THROUGH ABSOLUTE CONSECRATION (Matthew 19:21)

E.

THE YOUNG MAN, HOWEVER, BALKED (Matthew 19:22)

F.

JÉSUS-' COMMENT ON THE INCIDENT AND TEACHING ON WEALTH (Matthew 19:23-30)

1.

Entrance into God's Kingdom is difficult for those who have wealth. (Matthew 19:23)

2.

Apostles are staggered, but Jesus repeats Himself even more emphatically (Matthew 19:24)

3.

Dumbfounded (Mark 10:24), the disciples ask, If a rich man cannot be saved, who can?! (Matthew 19:25)

4.

Jesus answered: God is Lord of all possibilities.

G.

PETER'S WRONG-HEADED QUESTION ANSWERED (Matthew 19:27-30)

1.

We have done what the rich young ruler would not, i.e. we have left everything: what shall be ours?

2.

Jesus-' answers:

a.

PROMISE: In the new world, you will reign with me, judging all Israel. (Matthew 19:28)

b.

ENCOURAGEMENT: All who have sacrificed for my sake now will receive in this time a hundred times what they give up, and eternal life in the time to come. (Matthew 19:29)

c.

WARNING: Watch for a reversal of earth's value systems: positions of relative importance will be reversed. Many big names will become nobodies, whereas the nobodies will then be important. (Matthew 19:30)

CHAPTER NINETEEN AND TWENTY: ILLUSTRATIONS OF CHAPTER EIGHTEEN?

In Matthew 18 Jesus presented a marvelous discourse on human relationships among disciples in the Messianic Community, the Church of Christ. While treating the Twelve's question about relative greatness in the Kingdom, He touched themes such as mercifulness, humility, self-sacrifice, self-discipline, concern about the weak, the children, and stumbling-blocks. It would appear that this discourse was, for Matthew, as significant in the revelation of Jesus as the Sermon on the Mount. In fact, much as he did for the Sermon on the Mount in the Chapter s that follow it (Matthew 8:9), Matthew seems to spend the two Chapter s following the Sermon on Human Relationships (Matthew 19:20) to illustrate this sermon's great themes, by selecting out of Jesus-' encounters in Perea those events which illuminate them, Consider the following illustrations:

1.

Male-female relationships, or the divorce versus marriage question. Do we not have here the larger question of male superiority versus tender concern for one's mate? What about reconciliation after offences? (Matthew 18:15-20)

2.

Adult-child relationships: how should children be treated? Jesus answers: Blessed! Apostles had treated them as if they did not count. (Cf. Matthew 18:5)

3.

Rich-poor relationships: the rich young ruler, an ideal disciple who refused to sacrifice his own stumbling block for the Kingdom's sake, and so was lost. (Matthew 18:6-9) Disciples, aghast that rich men hardly enter the Kingdom, ask, Who then can be saved? Jesus answers that salvation is by grace. (Cf. Matthew 18:23-35) Peter responds, We sacrificed everything: what will that get us? Jesus answers, Much, however, all the present values and proud pretensions will be overturned. (Cf. notes on Matthew 18:1-14)

4.

Grace-merit relationships: the eleventh-hour servants equal to all-day workers by a gift of grace. Our standing before God is not a question of strict, legal accounting but the gift of undeserved favor. (Cf. Matthew 18:23-35)

5.

Passion Prediction: the Messiah will serve others even to the point of death at the hands of highest authorities in the land. (See note on Mark 9:35 after Matthew 18:1.)

6.

Refusal to establish a power structure: greatness is measured by service (Matthew 20:20-28; cf. Matthew 18:1-5)

7.

Jesus is not too busy to heal two blind men who desperately appeal to Him for help (Matthew 20:29 ff; cf. Matthew 18:10-14)