Then Jesus left the region and went into the district of Judea, across from the Jordan River, and again, massive crowds flocked to him, and Jesus, as was his custom, began to teach the people. At one point, some of the Pharisees came, seeking to entrap him with a question. “Tell us,” they asked, “is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”
He answered them, “What did Moses command you?”
They replied, “Moses permitted us to write a certificate of separation that would be valid to complete a divorce.”
Jesus said, “Yes, Moses wrote this exception for you because you are hardhearted. But from the beginning God created male and female. For this reason a man will leave his parents and be wedded to his wife. And the husband and wife will be joined as one flesh, and after that they no longer exist as two, but one flesh. So there you have it. What God has joined together, no one has the right to split apart.”
Once indoors, his disciples asked him to explain it to them again. So he said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. And if the wife divorces her husband and marries another, she also commits adultery.”
The parents kept bringing their little children to Jesus so that he would lay his hands on them and bless them. But the disciples kept rebuking and scolding the people for doing it. When Jesus saw what was happening, he became indignant with his disciples and said to them, “Let all the little children come to me and never hinder them! Don’t you know that God’s kingdom exists for such as these? Listen to the truth I speak: Whoever does not open their arms to receive God’s kingdom like a teachable child will never enter it.” Then he embraced each child, and laying his hands on them, he lovingly blessed each one.
As Jesus started on his way, a man came running up to him. Kneeling down in front of him, he cried out, “Good Teacher, what one thing am I required to do to gain eternal life?”
Jesus responded, “Why do you call me good? Only God is truly good. You already know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give a false testimony, do not cheat, and honor your father and mother.’ ”
The man said to Jesus, “Teacher, I have carefully obeyed these laws since my youth.”
Jesus fixed his gaze upon the man, with tender love, and said to him, “Yet there is still one thing in you lacking. Go, sell all that you have and give the money to the poor. Then all of your treasure will be in heaven. After you’ve done this, come back and walk with me.”
Completely shocked by Jesus’ answer, he turned and walked away very sad, for he was extremely rich.
Jesus looked at the faces of his disciples and said, “How hard it is for the wealthy to enter into God’s kingdom realm.”
The disciples were startled when they heard this. But Jesus again said to them, “Children, it is next to impossible for those who trust in their riches to find their way into God’s kingdom. It is easier to stuff a rope through the eye of a needle than for a wealthy person to enter into God’s kingdom.”
But this left them all the more astonished, and they whispered to one another, “Then who could ever be saved?”
Jesus looked at them and replied, “With people it is impossible, but not with God—God makes all things possible!”
Then Peter spoke up and said, “Can’t you see that we’ve left everything we had to cling to you?”
“Listen to my words,” Jesus said. “Anyone who leaves his home behind and chooses me over children, parents, family, and possessions, all for the sake of the gospel, it will come back to him a hundred times as much in this lifetime—homes, family, mothers, brothers, sisters, children, possessions—along with persecutions. And in the age to come, he will inherit eternal life. But many who are considered to be the most important now will be the least important then. And many who are viewed as the least important now will be considered the most important then.”
Bible App
Bible App for Kids
