1 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:13,200 Hi everyone. Welcome back to logical bible 2 00:00:13,200 --> 00:00:15,200 study. This is the podcast where we do 3 00:00:15,200 --> 00:00:18,200 an exegesis of the Gospel text, we're really dive into the 4 00:00:18,200 --> 00:00:20,600 words. And the way we do it, is we look 5 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:24,200 at the gospel text that is set aside for the day's Mass. 6 00:00:24,200 --> 00:00:27,400 So if you go to today's Catholic mass, you would hear from 7 00:00:27,500 --> 00:00:32,000 Matthew 19, verses 3 to Of and this is a really interesting 8 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:33,900 passage in, there's a lot to say about it. 9 00:00:33,900 --> 00:00:38,100 So let's get straight into it. Some Pharisees approached Jesus 10 00:00:38,100 --> 00:00:43,000 and to test him they said, Is it against the law for a man to 11 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:47,500 divorce his wife on any pretext? Whatever he answered. 12 00:00:47,500 --> 00:00:50,800 Have you not read that? The Creator from the beginning 13 00:00:50,800 --> 00:00:55,600 made them male and female. And that he said this is why a 14 00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:59,400 man must leave his father and mother and cling to his wife and 15 00:00:59,400 --> 00:01:03,600 the two Become one body. They are no longer two there 16 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:09,200 four, but one body. So then what God has United, man 17 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:13,900 must not divide. They said to him, then why did 18 00:01:13,900 --> 00:01:16,400 Moses command? That a writ of dismissal should 19 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:21,100 be given in cases of divorce? It was because you were so 20 00:01:21,100 --> 00:01:23,800 unteachable. He said that Moses allowed you 21 00:01:23,800 --> 00:01:27,300 to divorce your wives but it was not like this from the 22 00:01:27,308 --> 00:01:31,800 beginning. Now, I say this to you, the man 23 00:01:31,800 --> 00:01:34,600 who divorces his wife. I am not speaking of 24 00:01:34,600 --> 00:01:40,700 fornication, and marries another is guilty of adultery the 25 00:01:40,700 --> 00:01:44,200 disciples said to him, if that is how things are between 26 00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:48,600 husband and wife, it is not advisable to marry But he 27 00:01:48,600 --> 00:01:51,100 replied. It is not everyone who can 28 00:01:51,100 --> 00:01:54,000 accept what I have said. But only those to whom it is, 29 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:57,700 granted there are eunuchs born that way from their mother's 30 00:01:57,700 --> 00:02:01,100 womb. There are eunuchs made so by men 31 00:02:01,300 --> 00:02:04,800 and there are eunuchs, who have made themselves that way for the 32 00:02:04,800 --> 00:02:10,199 sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. Let anyone except this who can 33 00:02:11,100 --> 00:02:14,200 now, this passage is one of the most profound in the New 34 00:02:14,200 --> 00:02:17,400 Testament for helping helping us understand quite a few things, 35 00:02:17,400 --> 00:02:19,200 the relationship. When the Old Testament and the 36 00:02:19,208 --> 00:02:23,200 New Testament, Jesus view of the law, Jesus view of himself, 37 00:02:23,600 --> 00:02:27,500 Jesus view of marriage, and all sorts of other, sacramental 38 00:02:27,500 --> 00:02:29,800 implications, which are really quite fascinating. 39 00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:31,900 And there's a whole lot of stuff to say. 40 00:02:31,900 --> 00:02:35,400 And the church has said, a lot about this particular text, this 41 00:02:35,400 --> 00:02:38,500 is the single most important texts in the Bible for 42 00:02:38,500 --> 00:02:42,100 understanding the Christian view of marriage and some have even 43 00:02:42,100 --> 00:02:44,600 gone so far. As to say, that Jesus is the 44 00:02:44,600 --> 00:02:47,700 biggest offender of lifelong marriage. 45 00:02:48,100 --> 00:02:51,000 Thanks to this particular verse the biggest offender in history 46 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:53,500 of marriage. So, let's talk about the 47 00:02:53,500 --> 00:02:55,800 context. So Jesus has just begun his 48 00:02:55,800 --> 00:02:59,900 journey to Jerusalem From Galilee and he's in this big 49 00:02:59,900 --> 00:03:03,400 crowd of pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem for Passover. 50 00:03:03,400 --> 00:03:05,000 So, he's in amongst big crowds here. 51 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:09,700 They're moving From Galilee down to Judea, which is where 52 00:03:09,700 --> 00:03:11,400 Jerusalem is. But to get there, they have to 53 00:03:11,400 --> 00:03:14,500 go through the region of perea. So the moving through the region 54 00:03:14,500 --> 00:03:17,800 of perea, now schools are pointed out. 55 00:03:18,200 --> 00:03:20,800 The fact that Jesus has this conversation that we're about to 56 00:03:20,808 --> 00:03:23,700 hear in perea, that might not be a coincidence. 57 00:03:24,700 --> 00:03:28,200 Korea is where John the Baptist preached and he was actually 58 00:03:28,200 --> 00:03:32,300 executed eventually for condemning divorce and 59 00:03:32,300 --> 00:03:34,600 remarriage of someone. If you remember, John the 60 00:03:34,608 --> 00:03:39,400 Baptist directly addressed Herod Antipas and his mistress 61 00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:42,600 herodias because they were getting divorced and remarried. 62 00:03:42,600 --> 00:03:45,700 So he told them that that was not appropriate and that's what 63 00:03:45,700 --> 00:03:47,900 got him killed. So it was divorce and remarriage 64 00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:52,400 that got John, the Baptist killed and he probably preached 65 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:55,600 that in Korea. That was certainly his main base 66 00:03:55,600 --> 00:03:59,200 of preaching was in prayer and now he's Jesus in perea, perhaps 67 00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:01,800 the Pharisees deliberately recognize. 68 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:05,600 Wow, Jesus is in perea, Jesus is a fan of John, the Baptist, I 69 00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:08,300 wonder if we can get Jesus in trouble for the same thing that 70 00:04:08,300 --> 00:04:10,800 John, the Baptist got in trouble for, so that might be at the 71 00:04:10,808 --> 00:04:13,400 back of the Pharisees mind here. We often miss that. 72 00:04:14,100 --> 00:04:18,300 So verse 2 says large crowds followed him and he healed Of 73 00:04:18,300 --> 00:04:21,500 there. So there's huge crowds here. 74 00:04:21,500 --> 00:04:24,600 A lot of them on the way to Jerusalem for the Passover 75 00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:27,000 probably. And probably also a lot of the 76 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:29,400 people are not from the region of perea. 77 00:04:29,400 --> 00:04:32,300 There's probably some there From Galilee who know, Jesus quite 78 00:04:32,300 --> 00:04:34,600 well. Also, some from Judea who've 79 00:04:34,600 --> 00:04:38,600 come out to the Wilderness to see, Jesus and Matthew here 80 00:04:38,600 --> 00:04:41,900 tells us he healed them there. So there's huge, huge crowds. 81 00:04:42,200 --> 00:04:45,900 And Jesus is, as he always does his healing as many people as he 82 00:04:45,900 --> 00:04:49,500 possibly can. Verse 3, the Pharisees 83 00:04:49,500 --> 00:04:51,700 approached Jesus. So the Pharisees are the common 84 00:04:51,700 --> 00:04:55,600 teachers of the law for the common Jewish people and they 85 00:04:55,600 --> 00:04:59,400 usually take issue with Jesus because Jesus by now is an 86 00:04:59,400 --> 00:05:03,200 influential teacher of the law and he interpreted the law quite 87 00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:06,500 differently from them often radically so. 88 00:05:06,500 --> 00:05:10,700 And so they're quite afraid that he's going to show them up and 89 00:05:10,700 --> 00:05:13,200 in fact, they might lose some followers because people might 90 00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:15,000 start following Jesus rather than them. 91 00:05:16,100 --> 00:05:18,600 And the text here says that they To test him. 92 00:05:18,600 --> 00:05:20,500 So, this is not a genuine question. 93 00:05:20,500 --> 00:05:24,100 Sometimes people come to Jesus with genuine questions as well. 94 00:05:24,100 --> 00:05:27,400 See, later in this chapter, but here the Pharisees, they're 95 00:05:27,400 --> 00:05:31,800 trying to trip him up there. Trying to get him to say 96 00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:33,400 something that will discredit him. 97 00:05:34,100 --> 00:05:36,400 And we already know that the Pharisees were resolved to 98 00:05:36,400 --> 00:05:39,800 destroy Jesus. We see this in 12:14. 99 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:43,300 So here's the question that they asked him that sets it off. 100 00:05:43,900 --> 00:05:47,100 Is it against the law for a man to divorce his wife on any 101 00:05:47,100 --> 00:05:51,600 pretext, whatever, or some other translations there will say for 102 00:05:51,600 --> 00:05:55,600 any reason, Now what is why they asking him? 103 00:05:55,600 --> 00:05:58,700 This question is it lawful is it against the law for a man to 104 00:05:58,700 --> 00:06:00,900 divorce his wife for any reason at all? 105 00:06:01,300 --> 00:06:04,800 There's two different views about why the Pharisees might be 106 00:06:04,800 --> 00:06:08,700 asking him this. The main view that most people 107 00:06:08,700 --> 00:06:12,400 have gone for is has to do with this conflict that existed 108 00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:13,900 within the Pharisees at the time. 109 00:06:13,900 --> 00:06:18,700 So, a bit of background the Mosaic law did allow divorce. 110 00:06:19,100 --> 00:06:22,600 And particularly in Deuteronomy 24, it talks about how to go 111 00:06:22,600 --> 00:06:26,700 about doing a But in the time of Jesus, there were different 112 00:06:26,700 --> 00:06:29,300 schools of thought among the Pharisees about when it was 113 00:06:29,300 --> 00:06:33,200 permitted to have a divorce because Deuteronomy 24, where it 114 00:06:33,200 --> 00:06:35,700 talks about divorce and Moses allows divorce. 115 00:06:35,900 --> 00:06:37,900 There's this ambiguous phrase in there. 116 00:06:38,500 --> 00:06:43,500 Deuteronomy 24:1 says, a man may divorce his wife, if he finds 117 00:06:43,500 --> 00:06:48,100 anything indecent in her, but the text of Deuteronomy, doesn't 118 00:06:48,100 --> 00:06:51,400 tell them what indecent means. So in the time of Jesus, there's 119 00:06:51,400 --> 00:06:54,200 these disputes among the Pharisees who were the If the 120 00:06:54,200 --> 00:06:58,400 law are there us, what it means for, you know, what, counts as 121 00:06:58,400 --> 00:07:01,900 an indecent reason, what does it mean for a wife to be indecent. 122 00:07:02,200 --> 00:07:04,600 So, there's there, was this school of thought, at the time 123 00:07:04,600 --> 00:07:08,700 of Jesus called, the Hillel school of thought, which 124 00:07:08,700 --> 00:07:11,800 followed Rabbi Hillel, and he taught that a woman could 125 00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:16,100 divorce his wife for any reason. At all, including burning 126 00:07:16,100 --> 00:07:19,300 dinner, he actually listed in there that if your wife Burns 127 00:07:19,300 --> 00:07:22,700 dinner, that's a good enough reason to divorce her, which is 128 00:07:22,700 --> 00:07:24,300 fascinating. So there were some Pharisees, 129 00:07:24,300 --> 00:07:26,200 who followed that healer or school of thought. 130 00:07:26,400 --> 00:07:29,900 But there was another Rabbi shammai who said that indecency 131 00:07:30,200 --> 00:07:33,600 is a technical term that refers basically to sexual immorality. 132 00:07:33,600 --> 00:07:37,900 So the shammai school of thought said that a man could only 133 00:07:37,900 --> 00:07:40,900 divorce his wife in the case of a sexual immorality, and the 134 00:07:40,907 --> 00:07:44,000 Pharisees didn't agree with each other about this. 135 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:45,500 There was different schools of thought. 136 00:07:46,100 --> 00:07:49,900 So one scholarly view of this, is that what the Pharisees are 137 00:07:49,900 --> 00:07:52,700 doing here is they're trying to get Jesus to comment on this 138 00:07:52,700 --> 00:07:56,400 disputed issue. And so by doing that, he's bound 139 00:07:56,400 --> 00:07:58,700 to offend some people in the crowd and maybe lose some 140 00:07:58,700 --> 00:08:01,300 followers. That's what a lot of people have 141 00:08:01,300 --> 00:08:03,100 thought. But there's some problems with 142 00:08:03,100 --> 00:08:05,600 that view. There's an alternative you 143 00:08:05,600 --> 00:08:08,600 about. Why the Pharisees asking this 144 00:08:08,600 --> 00:08:10,200 question. And on this podcast, I try and 145 00:08:10,200 --> 00:08:13,100 give you the alternative views. And I think this alternative 146 00:08:13,100 --> 00:08:15,100 view is probably the more correct one. 147 00:08:16,400 --> 00:08:18,400 Think about the first view. We talked about their they're 148 00:08:18,400 --> 00:08:22,200 trying to trap Jesus. Well, Jesus just giving his 149 00:08:22,200 --> 00:08:25,300 opinion on this sort of small dispute amongst the Pharisees 150 00:08:25,600 --> 00:08:28,100 that wouldn't really constitute a trap, but it's not a very good 151 00:08:28,100 --> 00:08:30,400 trap because it was a disputed issue. 152 00:08:30,400 --> 00:08:32,299 All the Jews knew that it was a disputed issue. 153 00:08:32,299 --> 00:08:35,400 So if Jesus came right out and said oh well I support this 154 00:08:35,400 --> 00:08:37,400 school of thought, it wouldn't really be a big deal. 155 00:08:37,500 --> 00:08:38,400 The Jews. Would you say? 156 00:08:38,400 --> 00:08:42,100 Okay, that makes sense. So what's going on then? 157 00:08:42,500 --> 00:08:45,700 Well, on this alternative view the Pharisees by this point have 158 00:08:45,700 --> 00:08:49,300 heard that Jesus does not allow divorce and remarriage, he's 159 00:08:49,300 --> 00:08:51,700 already said that. Once he said that in chapter 5 160 00:08:51,700 --> 00:08:54,700 in The Sermon on the Mount. So the Pharisees have heard that 161 00:08:54,700 --> 00:08:58,200 he doesn't like divorce and remarriage so now they come to 162 00:08:58,200 --> 00:09:00,800 Jesus with this question, let's read the question again that 163 00:09:00,800 --> 00:09:03,800 they asked him. Is it against the law for a man 164 00:09:03,800 --> 00:09:06,200 to divorce his wife for any reason at all. 165 00:09:06,900 --> 00:09:11,200 So basically they're asking Jesus, whether he thinks Divorce 166 00:09:11,200 --> 00:09:14,300 is lawful at all, they think they're asking him whether he 167 00:09:14,300 --> 00:09:18,800 thinks divorce is even lawful in the first place that would be 168 00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:21,400 what this alternative, you proposes. 169 00:09:21,400 --> 00:09:23,300 And that makes sense, because if you look at the parallel, 170 00:09:23,300 --> 00:09:25,600 passage in Mark, chapter 10 verse 2. 171 00:09:26,500 --> 00:09:29,100 That's exactly, that's exactly what it says. 172 00:09:29,100 --> 00:09:30,700 It says that that's the reason they asked him. 173 00:09:30,700 --> 00:09:33,700 The question they want to know whether he supports divorce at 174 00:09:33,700 --> 00:09:36,900 all and whether he thinks it's lawful at all and so their 175 00:09:36,900 --> 00:09:38,200 reasoning is something like this. 176 00:09:38,200 --> 00:09:41,600 Well, Moses clearly allows divorce But we've heard that 177 00:09:41,600 --> 00:09:44,900 Jesus doesn't support divorce. And if we can get Jesus to say, 178 00:09:44,900 --> 00:09:47,400 to the crowds in front of the crowds, that he does not allow 179 00:09:47,400 --> 00:09:49,200 divorce. Well then everyone will realize 180 00:09:49,200 --> 00:09:53,100 these contradicted Moses and he has discredited himself. 181 00:09:53,400 --> 00:09:55,400 So I think this interpretation makes more sense. 182 00:09:55,400 --> 00:09:58,000 They're not trying to get him to comment on which school of 183 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:00,600 thought he favors the trying to get him to see whether he thinks 184 00:10:00,800 --> 00:10:03,700 divorce is lawful at all because Moses clearly did. 185 00:10:05,100 --> 00:10:08,400 This is Jesus response verse 4. Have you not read? 186 00:10:08,700 --> 00:10:10,800 Now, that's always an interesting thing for Jesus to 187 00:10:10,800 --> 00:10:13,800 say because he's speaking to the Pharisees that will be an insult 188 00:10:13,800 --> 00:10:17,100 to the Pharisees because they are the experts on the law. 189 00:10:17,100 --> 00:10:20,100 So for him to say, have you not read that would really busy 190 00:10:20,100 --> 00:10:23,800 digging it in. Have you not read the creative 191 00:10:23,800 --> 00:10:26,400 from the beginning, made them male and female? 192 00:10:26,400 --> 00:10:30,100 And that he said this is why a man must leave the father and 193 00:10:30,100 --> 00:10:34,100 mother and cling to his wife and the two become one body or one 194 00:10:34,100 --> 00:10:38,500 flesh is what Says there. So notice what Jesus is doing 195 00:10:38,500 --> 00:10:41,200 here. They have just tried to put a 196 00:10:41,208 --> 00:10:44,400 law of Moses to Jesus to see if he's going to contradict it. 197 00:10:44,400 --> 00:10:47,400 But Jesus, here is clever. He quotes from an even earlier 198 00:10:47,400 --> 00:10:49,800 book of Moses. So something else that Moses is 199 00:10:49,800 --> 00:10:51,400 written. So he's fighting Moses with 200 00:10:51,400 --> 00:10:54,700 Moses to make his point here, he's going right back to the 201 00:10:54,700 --> 00:10:57,100 beginning and he actually makes two separate quotes here. 202 00:10:57,100 --> 00:11:01,200 One from Genesis, 1 verse 27 and then one from Genesis 2 verse 203 00:11:01,200 --> 00:11:05,500 24. So Jesus main point here is that 204 00:11:06,300 --> 00:11:08,400 if you want to God's original plan for marriage. 205 00:11:08,400 --> 00:11:10,600 In fact, Moses original plan for marriage. 206 00:11:10,900 --> 00:11:13,500 Then you need to look at the earliest marriage that Moses 207 00:11:13,500 --> 00:11:14,800 wrote about which was Adam and Eve. 208 00:11:14,800 --> 00:11:17,800 So this is God's model for all marriages. 209 00:11:17,800 --> 00:11:22,200 It's am Adam and Eve Adam and Eve not what Moses said later in 210 00:11:22,200 --> 00:11:23,800 Deuteronomy. So that's the main point. 211 00:11:23,800 --> 00:11:27,400 He's made, then he goes on, they are no longer two, therefore, 212 00:11:27,400 --> 00:11:32,100 but one flesh. So then what God has United, man 213 00:11:32,100 --> 00:11:35,500 must not divide. So here's the the big Point 214 00:11:35,500 --> 00:11:39,600 Jesus wants to make Jesus argument here is that God's plan 215 00:11:39,700 --> 00:11:42,900 as revealed in Adam and Eve in the Torah is that there 216 00:11:42,900 --> 00:11:44,900 shouldn't be any divorce at all. That's clear. 217 00:11:44,900 --> 00:11:49,100 When you look at Adam and Eve as God's plan for marriage and 218 00:11:49,100 --> 00:11:52,100 Jesus says here, he really wants them to understand that when a 219 00:11:52,100 --> 00:11:54,300 man and woman joined together in marriage. 220 00:11:54,300 --> 00:11:57,000 God is joining them. And in fact, that's what Genesis 221 00:11:57,000 --> 00:11:59,400 said, but Jesus reminds them that when a man and woman come 222 00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:03,700 together, God joins them, therefore, he is Jesus. 223 00:12:04,100 --> 00:12:06,500 Man does not have the power to separate it because it's 224 00:12:06,500 --> 00:12:11,000 something that God has joined. Now that would have been quite a 225 00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:14,200 surprising answer for his audience because that's not the 226 00:12:14,200 --> 00:12:16,500 way that the later books in the Torah speak about it. 227 00:12:16,500 --> 00:12:18,700 Exodus and Deuteronomy they don't talk about marriage in 228 00:12:18,700 --> 00:12:20,700 that way. But in the earliest chapters of 229 00:12:20,700 --> 00:12:24,100 the Bible, Jesus says that's exactly what it says. 230 00:12:24,100 --> 00:12:27,200 It says that God joins them together and by implication, 231 00:12:27,200 --> 00:12:31,000 According To Jesus, man does not have the power to separate it. 232 00:12:31,600 --> 00:12:34,600 So notice what Jesus has done here at this point, he's evaded. 233 00:12:34,600 --> 00:12:38,500 The Trap that they try to set for him by China, set up Moses 234 00:12:38,500 --> 00:12:41,600 versus Jesus. And so, what he does, Jesus 235 00:12:41,600 --> 00:12:44,300 does, is he quotes Moses from Genesis? 236 00:12:44,900 --> 00:12:48,600 And so he turns the tables by showing that the Pharisees are 237 00:12:48,600 --> 00:12:51,200 the ones that are out of touch with God's true intention for 238 00:12:51,200 --> 00:12:53,500 married life as revealed in the Torah. 239 00:12:53,800 --> 00:12:55,900 So what he's basically said, is look, if you want to take the 240 00:12:55,900 --> 00:12:58,600 Torah seriously, go right back to the beginning and see what 241 00:12:58,600 --> 00:13:01,500 Moses said at the start. So it's a very clever tactic. 242 00:13:01,500 --> 00:13:04,000 He always tries to do this with the Pharisees, he points them 243 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:07,400 back to the own Tech, their own texts that they hold in such 244 00:13:07,400 --> 00:13:10,700 high regard. So that's what he said so far. 245 00:13:10,700 --> 00:13:13,900 He said that basically God joins man and woman together and 246 00:13:13,900 --> 00:13:16,100 therefore, divorce is not permitted man. 247 00:13:16,100 --> 00:13:20,600 Cannot separate a marriage because it's something God joins 248 00:13:20,600 --> 00:13:23,000 together. So verse 7, the Pharisees asked 249 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:26,000 a reasonable question. They say, then, why did Moses 250 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:29,000 command that have rid of dismissal should be given in 251 00:13:29,000 --> 00:13:31,800 cases of divorce? Now, that's a fair question 252 00:13:31,800 --> 00:13:34,100 because it is true that in Deuteronomy. 253 00:13:34,100 --> 00:13:37,800 Moses actually allows divorce. It's pretty clear that Moses 254 00:13:37,800 --> 00:13:41,300 does allow it. So for them, it's a huge claim 255 00:13:41,400 --> 00:13:43,800 for Jesus to say that God doesn't want divorce. 256 00:13:44,100 --> 00:13:47,000 I mean that makes sense to us as Christians in the 21st century 257 00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:50,300 but for the Jews in Jesus time that's a huge claim because 258 00:13:50,300 --> 00:13:52,800 Moses himself allowed for divorce. 259 00:13:52,800 --> 00:13:55,800 In fact, he even gave laws about how to do a divorce. 260 00:13:56,100 --> 00:14:00,100 So this is a huge bombshell. So they mention here, a writ of 261 00:14:00,100 --> 00:14:02,800 dismissal. So if you read Deuteronomy 24, 262 00:14:02,800 --> 00:14:07,200 verse 12 for talks about the most of the laws that Moses put 263 00:14:07,200 --> 00:14:11,000 in place about divorce and And basically the Jewish law there 264 00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:14,400 in Deuteronomy 24, a requires that in order for a man to 265 00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:17,900 divorce his wife, he had to go through the legal process of 266 00:14:17,900 --> 00:14:20,200 getting a certificate and then giving it to the woman that he 267 00:14:20,208 --> 00:14:23,100 was going to divorce. So this was a legal document 268 00:14:23,100 --> 00:14:28,200 called a writ of dismissal here that the woman would receive and 269 00:14:28,700 --> 00:14:31,000 she could use that to prove that she's divorced. 270 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:33,800 So basically it was to help protect the woman from abuse. 271 00:14:33,900 --> 00:14:36,500 It was a legal document that protected the woman and that's 272 00:14:36,500 --> 00:14:40,600 actually a huge development can Compared to other cultures at 273 00:14:40,600 --> 00:14:43,500 that time, period. Now in particular, if you read 274 00:14:43,500 --> 00:14:46,000 Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy 24, it seems that this Rich of 275 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:48,300 dismissal. The point of it was to prevent 276 00:14:48,300 --> 00:14:51,300 the original husband, from changing his mind and trying to 277 00:14:51,300 --> 00:14:53,400 get her to come back and marry him again later. 278 00:14:53,700 --> 00:14:55,500 If they have the rid of decision, she has the rid of 279 00:14:55,500 --> 00:14:57,500 dismissal, she can prove that. Actually I've already been 280 00:14:57,500 --> 00:15:00,400 married to this man once so he can't marry me again. 281 00:15:00,500 --> 00:15:03,100 So it's a really interesting kind of way that it works there. 282 00:15:03,100 --> 00:15:06,600 In Deuteronomy 24, it's actually to protect the rights of the 283 00:15:06,600 --> 00:15:10,600 woman. Now we should listen to Jesus 284 00:15:10,600 --> 00:15:13,600 response here in verse 8. I think fundamentalists and 285 00:15:13,600 --> 00:15:16,800 certain Protestant groups could learn a lot from what Jesus 286 00:15:16,800 --> 00:15:19,900 responds here is inverse H. So Jesus directly addresses 287 00:15:19,900 --> 00:15:23,300 their question about why Moses commanded a rid of dismissal for 288 00:15:23,300 --> 00:15:26,100 divorce. He says it was because you were 289 00:15:26,100 --> 00:15:29,600 so unteachable that Moses allowed you to divorce your 290 00:15:29,600 --> 00:15:32,500 wives. Where our translation says 291 00:15:32,500 --> 00:15:35,000 unteachable. It literally says, because of 292 00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:37,800 the hardness of your heart. Interesting, isn't it? 293 00:15:37,800 --> 00:15:40,900 That Jesus kind of groups together the Pharisees with the 294 00:15:40,900 --> 00:15:44,000 original Israelites here because of the hardness of your heart. 295 00:15:44,700 --> 00:15:48,800 Notice this this is really important that we as students of 296 00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:49,700 the Bible. Understand. 297 00:15:49,700 --> 00:15:54,100 This Jesus says, the reason that Moses gave this specific law was 298 00:15:54,100 --> 00:15:58,800 because the people in his time was so sinful, this is something 299 00:15:58,800 --> 00:16:02,600 incredibly profound. God and Moses did not actually 300 00:16:02,600 --> 00:16:07,500 want divorce, but given the sinfulness of man and the lack 301 00:16:07,500 --> 00:16:09,800 of understanding of the Israelites at that point in time 302 00:16:09,800 --> 00:16:13,900 in Deuteronomy, it seemed that the people could not handle 303 00:16:13,900 --> 00:16:15,900 God's ultimate ideal of no divorce. 304 00:16:16,900 --> 00:16:19,800 So God has to compromise, God has to give them a 305 00:16:19,800 --> 00:16:24,800 less-than-ideal law. So God, Allows it allows 306 00:16:24,800 --> 00:16:28,000 divorce, but he puts in requirements in Deuteronomy 24 307 00:16:28,500 --> 00:16:30,200 that will minimize the amount of abuse. 308 00:16:30,200 --> 00:16:32,300 A woman would suffer as a result of divorce. 309 00:16:32,300 --> 00:16:34,900 And of course, compared to other societies at the time, that's a 310 00:16:34,908 --> 00:16:39,000 huge milestone. So let's say that again. 311 00:16:39,200 --> 00:16:43,100 God, Moses did not actually want to divorce, but because the 312 00:16:43,100 --> 00:16:45,600 Israelites sinfulness was so bad at the time. 313 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:49,500 God actually had to allow it because they just will not allow 314 00:16:49,600 --> 00:16:52,600 able to live up to God's perfect ideal of no divorce. 315 00:16:53,700 --> 00:16:56,500 Jesus goes on but it was not like this from the beginning. 316 00:16:57,400 --> 00:17:00,300 So Jesus reminds the Pharisees that God's original plan for 317 00:17:00,300 --> 00:17:02,700 creation. Even though Moses does allow 318 00:17:02,700 --> 00:17:06,200 divorce, God's original plan was that, man and woman should be 319 00:17:06,200 --> 00:17:09,000 joined for Life. There should be no divorce and 320 00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:11,300 if you look at Adam and Eve in the garden, that's pretty clear. 321 00:17:12,200 --> 00:17:15,200 But over the next few thousand years sin crept into the human 322 00:17:15,200 --> 00:17:17,300 race. To the point that divorce 323 00:17:17,400 --> 00:17:20,599 entered into the picture and then eventually God had to allow 324 00:17:20,599 --> 00:17:24,900 it for a time because of the stubbornness of And so he's a 325 00:17:24,908 --> 00:17:27,700 really important principle for interpreting the Old Testament 326 00:17:27,700 --> 00:17:29,700 laws. When you open the Old Testament, 327 00:17:29,700 --> 00:17:32,600 you'll see all sorts of laws, some of them in Leviticus, some 328 00:17:32,600 --> 00:17:35,900 of them later on. Here's an important principle, 329 00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:39,000 some laws in the Old Testament are more important than others. 330 00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:42,100 Not all laws in the Old Testament are equally as 331 00:17:42,100 --> 00:17:44,400 important. This is something to Jews in 332 00:17:44,400 --> 00:17:47,200 Jesus time, didn't understand. This is something that some 333 00:17:47,500 --> 00:17:49,400 Christians did. I don't understand either. 334 00:17:50,600 --> 00:17:54,000 Not all of the laws in the Old Testament, correspond to God's 335 00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:57,700 will equally some of them did. So for example, The Ten 336 00:17:57,700 --> 00:18:01,300 Commandments, it seems that they correspond pretty closely to 337 00:18:01,300 --> 00:18:04,000 what God's will for man. Truly is The Ten Commandments 338 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:08,100 are like the gold standard of God's law, but some of the later 339 00:18:08,100 --> 00:18:11,100 ones, particularly the ones in numbers and Deuteronomy, they're 340 00:18:11,100 --> 00:18:14,200 given quite reluctantly by God. Even if you've read The 341 00:18:14,208 --> 00:18:17,200 Narrative himself, God only gives those laws in numbers and 342 00:18:17,200 --> 00:18:21,000 Deuteronomy as a response to some sort of see Full act that 343 00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:22,800 the people are just committed in the wilderness. 344 00:18:23,100 --> 00:18:26,300 So God puts in these laws to deal with the level of sin, 345 00:18:26,300 --> 00:18:28,300 which the Israelite people had accumulated. 346 00:18:29,200 --> 00:18:31,500 That means some of the laws in the Old Testament are 347 00:18:31,500 --> 00:18:33,900 provisional. They're not ideal. 348 00:18:33,900 --> 00:18:36,700 Even from God's perspective. So they don't correspond to 349 00:18:36,700 --> 00:18:40,100 God's Ultimate Will. That's actually stated later in 350 00:18:40,108 --> 00:18:42,300 the Old Testament. If you look at Malachi chapter 2 351 00:18:42,300 --> 00:18:46,300 verse 6, it actually says that God gave them some laws which 352 00:18:46,300 --> 00:18:49,200 are not good. That's actually in the Old 353 00:18:49,200 --> 00:18:51,700 Testament. Aunt itself, but the Jews and 354 00:18:51,700 --> 00:18:54,100 Jesus time had sort of forgotten that principle. 355 00:18:54,400 --> 00:18:57,500 But now Jesus comes along and he's come to reveal, what God's 356 00:18:57,500 --> 00:19:01,000 Ultimate Will is the things which best correspond to God's 357 00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:04,500 will, which means overturning some of the Old Testament laws, 358 00:19:04,500 --> 00:19:07,000 which do not correspond to God's Ultimate Will. 359 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:11,200 Now, the region beyond the Jordan there in Korea, here, 360 00:19:11,200 --> 00:19:13,500 remember? Interestingly, that's the place 361 00:19:13,500 --> 00:19:16,400 where Moses gave Israel. Many of the laws of Deuteronomy. 362 00:19:16,400 --> 00:19:18,900 If you go to Junior on Deuteronomy chapter 1, this is 363 00:19:18,900 --> 00:19:22,400 basically where he gives them these Deuteronomy laws. 364 00:19:22,400 --> 00:19:25,600 So it seems like more than a coincidence that Jesus is about 365 00:19:25,600 --> 00:19:29,200 to repeal the Deuteronomy Deuteronomy, concession for 366 00:19:29,200 --> 00:19:34,300 divorce and remarriage in the very place where Moses basically 367 00:19:34,300 --> 00:19:35,700 gave it. It's interesting, isn't it when 368 00:19:35,700 --> 00:19:39,100 you look at it from a geographical perspective, So 369 00:19:39,100 --> 00:19:42,800 here as Christians, we believe that Jesus with his words he's 370 00:19:42,800 --> 00:19:47,300 just said restores Mary's to its original integrity and he 371 00:19:47,300 --> 00:19:51,000 elevates it to a New Covenant Sacrament prior to Jesus 372 00:19:51,900 --> 00:19:54,700 marriage was a thing that was part of the natural order. 373 00:19:54,700 --> 00:19:58,300 But it wasn't a Sacrament here. Jesus makes it a Sacrament. 374 00:19:58,700 --> 00:20:00,500 Jesus is about to intensify it though. 375 00:20:00,500 --> 00:20:04,800 There's more verse 9 Jesus is going to now make it very clear 376 00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:08,400 that God does not want divorce and in fact, he's going to add 377 00:20:08,400 --> 00:20:10,200 more To that. He's going to say that divorce 378 00:20:10,200 --> 00:20:12,500 and remarriage is a Gravely sinful matter. 379 00:20:12,500 --> 00:20:16,700 It's equivalent to adultery. So he says, now I say this to 380 00:20:16,700 --> 00:20:21,100 you notice, he's speaking this on his own authority, just as he 381 00:20:21,100 --> 00:20:24,500 did on The Sermon, on the Mount. I say this to you, this is the 382 00:20:24,500 --> 00:20:26,500 same teaching that he's already given in The Sermon on the 383 00:20:26,500 --> 00:20:27,800 Mount. Actually, if you look at chapter 384 00:20:27,800 --> 00:20:29,800 5, he's already said these words once. 385 00:20:30,100 --> 00:20:34,000 But now he says it to the Pharisees Here's what he says 386 00:20:35,100 --> 00:20:36,900 the man. Who divorces his wife. 387 00:20:37,100 --> 00:20:41,400 I am not speaking of fornication and marries another he is guilty 388 00:20:41,400 --> 00:20:45,600 of adultery So that's what we have here. 389 00:20:45,600 --> 00:20:48,000 Other translations, add in another phrase. 390 00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:50,700 So there might be a missing phrase here which is he who 391 00:20:50,700 --> 00:20:54,800 marries a divorced woman commits adultery and that same teaching, 392 00:20:54,800 --> 00:20:57,200 is something Jesus said earlier, in the Sermon on the Mount. 393 00:20:57,200 --> 00:21:00,900 So, even if this phrase is not in the original, it is something 394 00:21:00,900 --> 00:21:03,900 Jesus said earlier, in Matthew anyway, so there's no loss here. 395 00:21:03,900 --> 00:21:06,700 If it's not supposed to be in this spot, but what he certainly 396 00:21:06,700 --> 00:21:10,100 does say, is the man who divorces his wife and marries 397 00:21:10,100 --> 00:21:12,300 another, he is guilty of adultery. 398 00:21:14,500 --> 00:21:16,800 Now, you might think. Why do we what's the focus on 399 00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:19,300 men? All about well Matthews version. 400 00:21:19,500 --> 00:21:22,700 When he narrates it for his audience here he focuses on men 401 00:21:22,700 --> 00:21:25,300 because he's a Jew and he's writing to Jews and in Jewish 402 00:21:25,300 --> 00:21:28,100 culture, only men had the right to divorce. 403 00:21:28,800 --> 00:21:31,600 Now, if you look at marks version of this, which is in 404 00:21:31,600 --> 00:21:35,300 Mark chapter 10 verse 11 to 12, it seems like marks version is 405 00:21:35,300 --> 00:21:39,900 more word for word accurate here because he mentions the Jesus 406 00:21:39,900 --> 00:21:42,700 clearly intended this to apply to women as well or talks about 407 00:21:42,700 --> 00:21:44,600 how women. Here do the same thing. 408 00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:48,700 They also commit adultery but Matthew here focuses on the men 409 00:21:48,700 --> 00:21:52,700 because he's writing to Jewish audience who had this structure 410 00:21:52,700 --> 00:21:54,300 of divorce that revolved around men. 411 00:21:56,900 --> 00:22:00,500 So what does Jesus say? It means if someone gets a legal 412 00:22:00,500 --> 00:22:03,700 divorce and marries another according to this passage here, 413 00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:07,200 he says, anyone who does that is guilty of adultery. 414 00:22:07,300 --> 00:22:12,000 Now notice this, it's not if you get divorced, you are committing 415 00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:13,800 adultery. If you get divorced and then 416 00:22:13,800 --> 00:22:16,900 marry another, that's what makes you guilty of adultery. 417 00:22:17,300 --> 00:22:21,300 So here with one sentence, basically Jesus overturns the 418 00:22:21,300 --> 00:22:24,700 legislation in Deuteronomy and he overturns all the debates in 419 00:22:24,700 --> 00:22:26,500 his time between different Pharisee. 420 00:22:27,200 --> 00:22:29,200 Jesus gives a definitive interpretation. 421 00:22:29,200 --> 00:22:32,100 He gets rid of the legal allowance for divorce all 422 00:22:32,100 --> 00:22:34,400 together. He says, it's not permitted. 423 00:22:35,700 --> 00:22:39,800 Here Jesus clearly teaches that a legal divorce does not affect 424 00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:42,000 the status of marriage in the eyes of God. 425 00:22:42,200 --> 00:22:45,600 So I will say that again, legal divorce does not affect the 426 00:22:45,600 --> 00:22:48,000 status of the marriage, in the eyes of God. 427 00:22:48,100 --> 00:22:51,200 Now, that's not the same as saying getting divorced, is 428 00:22:51,600 --> 00:22:54,600 equivalent to adultery, but it is saying that getting divorced 429 00:22:54,700 --> 00:22:58,000 does not affect the status of the marriage in the eyes of God. 430 00:22:58,100 --> 00:23:01,800 So in other words, According To Jesus, if two people get 431 00:23:01,800 --> 00:23:04,600 divorced, they actually still married, they're still one flesh 432 00:23:04,600 --> 00:23:07,700 joined by God. So this is the basis of the 433 00:23:07,700 --> 00:23:10,200 Catholic teaching on the indissolubility of marriage. 434 00:23:10,900 --> 00:23:13,600 Jesus says, this is the reason why you can't get remarried if 435 00:23:13,600 --> 00:23:17,700 you're divorced because the one flesh still exists, and that's 436 00:23:17,700 --> 00:23:22,700 the Catholic teaching today. If someone gets divorced and 437 00:23:22,700 --> 00:23:25,000 attempts of remarriage, According To Jesus, and 438 00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:28,100 according to Catholic teaching, that is equivalent to adultery 439 00:23:28,100 --> 00:23:31,400 because they're still joined to their original partner. 440 00:23:31,400 --> 00:23:35,000 If they were, in fact, legitimately joined in marriage 441 00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:36,300 to someone. One prior to that. 442 00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:38,300 So many scholars have said that here. 443 00:23:38,300 --> 00:23:41,800 Jesus makes himself History's. Greatest defender of the 444 00:23:41,800 --> 00:23:43,500 sanctity and permanency of marriage. 445 00:23:44,500 --> 00:23:46,700 This is something that wasn't taught in the Old Testament. 446 00:23:46,700 --> 00:23:49,800 Jesus, he reveals God's Ultimate Will for marriage, which is that 447 00:23:49,800 --> 00:23:53,100 it's just into soluble. And to remarry again, after 448 00:23:53,100 --> 00:23:56,700 divorce is a grave sin. This teaching is binding on 449 00:23:56,700 --> 00:23:59,600 anyone who claims to be a follower of Jesus, anyone who's 450 00:23:59,600 --> 00:24:03,100 in the kingdom of God. Now, that makes sense, doesn't 451 00:24:03,100 --> 00:24:04,400 it? Because divorce was said, to be 452 00:24:04,400 --> 00:24:07,900 given, According To Jesus, due to the hardness of their hearts, 453 00:24:07,900 --> 00:24:11,400 in the Old Testament in the Old Testament, they didn't the Jews. 454 00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:15,000 Did not have the ability to live up to God's perfect will due to 455 00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:18,300 the effects of sin. But now, it's the New Covenant. 456 00:24:18,300 --> 00:24:21,900 And Jesus has revealed the keys to living in God's perfect will 457 00:24:22,500 --> 00:24:25,000 and he's given them. The means to live according to 458 00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:28,300 God's will as well. So if Christians obey these 459 00:24:28,300 --> 00:24:30,900 principles that he's given in The Sermon on the Mount anyway, 460 00:24:31,400 --> 00:24:33,900 There's not going to be need for divorce, so that's one thing to 461 00:24:33,900 --> 00:24:36,700 say here, but there's also something else we need to 462 00:24:36,700 --> 00:24:38,800 consider which is the role of the Holy Spirit. 463 00:24:39,500 --> 00:24:43,800 Jesus probably intends his audience to understand that this 464 00:24:43,800 --> 00:24:47,400 kind of lifelong marriage. Jesus is talking about is going 465 00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:48,900 to involve a special kind of Grace. 466 00:24:48,900 --> 00:24:52,500 God gives Grace to people who are involved in these New 467 00:24:52,500 --> 00:24:55,300 Covenant marriages. And this is what the Catholic 468 00:24:55,300 --> 00:24:57,600 comment around sacred. Scripture says about this 469 00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:01,400 consider the contrast that is drawn between Mosaic and take 470 00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:05,800 times if Moses permitted divorce and remarriage to accommodate 471 00:25:05,800 --> 00:25:09,200 the hard-heartedness of Israel. Then the messiah's repeal of 472 00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:11,700 this. Concession indicates a new human 473 00:25:11,700 --> 00:25:15,400 situation in which the heart is healed of its infirmity and 474 00:25:15,400 --> 00:25:18,000 divinely empowered to embrace marriage is a lifelong 475 00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:20,800 commitment. It implies a regeneration of the 476 00:25:20,800 --> 00:25:22,900 human person from the inside out. 477 00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:27,400 Only when the Lord enriches our lives with his grace, can the 478 00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:29,300 ideal of marriage for human life? 479 00:25:29,600 --> 00:25:32,800 Become the real experience of And women joined together as 480 00:25:32,800 --> 00:25:35,600 one. So that's a nice quote there. 481 00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:39,400 Now, this is a long episode and there's still more to say. 482 00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:42,100 So we're about to go into a section here about the exception 483 00:25:42,100 --> 00:25:44,300 clause and there's a lot of meaty stuff to talk about here 484 00:25:44,300 --> 00:25:46,900 as well. So this might be a good time for 485 00:25:46,900 --> 00:25:50,100 you to pause and come back to the episode because there's more 486 00:25:50,100 --> 00:25:52,500 really good stuff to say and this will end up being one of 487 00:25:52,500 --> 00:25:55,700 our longer episodes. But for good reason I think 488 00:25:55,700 --> 00:25:58,900 because there's a lot of decent exegesis stuff that we can do 489 00:25:58,900 --> 00:26:01,900 here. So we've established that Jesus 490 00:26:01,900 --> 00:26:05,800 here, teachers that divorce and then remarried is equivalent to 491 00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:08,200 adultery. But what about the exception 492 00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:10,300 Clause? There's this exception clause in 493 00:26:10,300 --> 00:26:13,200 Matthews version. So let's go back and read what 494 00:26:13,200 --> 00:26:17,700 he said again. And this is in verse 9, the man 495 00:26:17,700 --> 00:26:21,500 who divorces his wife. I am not speaking of fornication 496 00:26:21,700 --> 00:26:24,100 and marries another is guilty of adultery. 497 00:26:24,500 --> 00:26:27,300 This is translated differently in different translations but 498 00:26:27,300 --> 00:26:30,000 there's this kind of phrasing brackets in the middle. 499 00:26:30,400 --> 00:26:34,800 The man who divorces his wife except for fornication is guilty 500 00:26:34,800 --> 00:26:37,000 of adultery. So what is this? 501 00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:41,000 Exception Clause all about it revolves around this Greek word 502 00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:45,000 porneia except for the case of poor Nia and our translation 503 00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:48,200 makes that fornication others might render it sexual 504 00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:50,400 immorality, but it's a different word from adultery. 505 00:26:50,600 --> 00:26:54,700 So Jesus here is thinking of some sort of sexual act of some 506 00:26:54,700 --> 00:26:58,300 kind, which counts as an exception to his teaching. 507 00:26:58,800 --> 00:27:00,100 So let's start with what it does. 508 00:27:00,100 --> 00:27:05,100 Not mean, Jesus clearly can't be saying this if someone in the 509 00:27:05,100 --> 00:27:08,300 marriage has relations with someone else, then to divorce 510 00:27:08,300 --> 00:27:11,800 them and marry, someone else would not be committing adultery 511 00:27:12,800 --> 00:27:17,400 that will be true strong. We don't want to say that if you 512 00:27:17,400 --> 00:27:21,100 get divorced and remarried then it doesn't count as adultery if 513 00:27:21,100 --> 00:27:23,900 your original partner had relations with someone else 514 00:27:24,300 --> 00:27:26,900 Jesus as well. See, Jesus clearly puts a ban 515 00:27:26,900 --> 00:27:29,800 here on doing any kind of divorce and remarriage. 516 00:27:30,100 --> 00:27:33,200 So we that's certainly Not what he means by this exception, he's 517 00:27:33,200 --> 00:27:36,300 not making an exception to the divorce and remarriage Counting 518 00:27:36,300 --> 00:27:39,200 as adultery, but he must be making some sort of exception of 519 00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:41,200 some sort. Here, there's been lots of 520 00:27:41,200 --> 00:27:45,100 discussion about the best way to interpret this because Luke's 521 00:27:45,100 --> 00:27:49,500 version, if you look at Luke 16 Verse 18 and marks version Mark 522 00:27:49,500 --> 00:27:52,700 chapter 10, neither of them include this exception clause. 523 00:27:54,300 --> 00:27:57,300 And then, if you look at 1 Corinthians 7 verses 10 to 11 524 00:27:57,300 --> 00:28:02,000 and Romans 7 to 23. They also don't have an 525 00:28:02,008 --> 00:28:04,100 exception Clause either. They just say that married 526 00:28:04,100 --> 00:28:06,100 people. Should not divorce. 527 00:28:07,900 --> 00:28:11,200 So, it seems that Matthew has got this exception clause in 528 00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:12,800 there. Now, Matthew hasn't made up 529 00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:16,000 this, these words, obviously, Jesus did a say this, but the 530 00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:18,500 other gospel writers didn't feel that it was relevant to Their 531 00:28:18,500 --> 00:28:22,100 audience to include, but Matthew does feel the Jesus. 532 00:28:22,100 --> 00:28:25,100 Exception Clause here is relevant for his audience. 533 00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:29,500 Now based on the disciples reaction in verse 10, which will 534 00:28:29,500 --> 00:28:32,900 get too soon, it really does seem that Jesus is making a 535 00:28:32,900 --> 00:28:36,200 total prohibition on divorce and remarriage. 536 00:28:37,300 --> 00:28:39,600 So we have to keep that in mind. So what does it mean that when 537 00:28:39,600 --> 00:28:43,300 he has this exception Clause? Well, if you look at the version 538 00:28:43,300 --> 00:28:46,000 of this in The Sermon on the Mount, so that's in Matthew 539 00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:50,400 Chapter 5 towards the end that putt that version is actually a 540 00:28:50,400 --> 00:28:53,100 bit easier to interpret that version of the exception clause. 541 00:28:53,100 --> 00:28:56,000 And if you remember in that episode we talked about how in 542 00:28:56,000 --> 00:28:58,600 The Sermon on the Mount. There's a phrase that says 543 00:28:58,600 --> 00:29:03,600 anyone who does this makes her an adulteress Now that would be 544 00:29:03,600 --> 00:29:06,800 quite easy to interpret because it focuses on the woman and what 545 00:29:06,800 --> 00:29:10,100 the word adulterous means. But our version of Matthew 19 546 00:29:10,100 --> 00:29:11,800 does not have this. So we're going to have to go 547 00:29:11,800 --> 00:29:15,100 with a different interpretation. What does the exception clause 548 00:29:15,100 --> 00:29:17,900 mean? Lots of different 549 00:29:17,900 --> 00:29:20,000 interpretations. Lots of debate about what this 550 00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:22,300 word porneia means. There's at least five different 551 00:29:22,300 --> 00:29:25,800 interpretations. So the first interpretation that 552 00:29:25,800 --> 00:29:28,600 we'll look at in, this is the one that was held by the 553 00:29:28,600 --> 00:29:31,900 majority of the church fathers. So this was quite a common 554 00:29:31,900 --> 00:29:36,800 theory, it's this Jesus is allowing separation in cases 555 00:29:36,800 --> 00:29:38,900 when the partner commits sexual adultery. 556 00:29:39,100 --> 00:29:43,300 So here's exception Clause is allowing for separation if the 557 00:29:43,300 --> 00:29:46,100 partner commits sexual adultery of some sort. 558 00:29:47,100 --> 00:29:50,000 So, on this interpretation, Jesus here is basically taking 559 00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:53,400 the side of the rabbi of the rabbinic school of shammai. 560 00:29:53,400 --> 00:29:58,100 He's saying that Divorce is never allowed except in cases 561 00:29:58,100 --> 00:30:00,000 where the partner is sexually immoral. 562 00:30:00,200 --> 00:30:02,900 Now that would answer the divorce question, and basically, 563 00:30:02,900 --> 00:30:06,300 it would mean Jesus says divorce is okay, but Jesus is clearly 564 00:30:06,300 --> 00:30:09,300 not approving of remarriage even on this view. 565 00:30:09,300 --> 00:30:13,600 So even if this view is correct, the divorce would not dissolve, 566 00:30:13,600 --> 00:30:16,200 the marriage bond. So remarriage is not permitted, 567 00:30:16,200 --> 00:30:19,300 even if you take this view. So a lot of church fathers said 568 00:30:19,300 --> 00:30:22,700 that, that's what Jesus meant your, he is allowing Separation 569 00:30:22,700 --> 00:30:24,400 on the basis of sexual immorality. 570 00:30:25,100 --> 00:30:27,700 And that does seem to be supported by Paul's later, 571 00:30:27,700 --> 00:30:31,000 teaching that if spouses separate, they either need to 572 00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:35,700 reconcile or remain single. Now, there's a couple of 573 00:30:35,700 --> 00:30:38,000 problems with this view. It could be right, we can't rule 574 00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:40,200 it out, certainly, but some problems that are worth thinking 575 00:30:40,200 --> 00:30:46,100 about If this is what Jesus meant it wouldn't it as we said 576 00:30:46,100 --> 00:30:49,500 before this isn't a very good trap of Jesus because either of 577 00:30:49,500 --> 00:30:53,400 you would be perfectly respectable if the Trap that the 578 00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:55,500 Pharisees are setting. Here is to see which school of 579 00:30:55,500 --> 00:30:57,700 thought Jesus would fall into then. 580 00:30:57,700 --> 00:31:00,400 It's not particularly exciting. It's not even a big deal because 581 00:31:01,100 --> 00:31:03,100 either of you is perfectly acceptable and it wouldn't 582 00:31:03,100 --> 00:31:05,700 really caused an uproar if you favored, one of the views. 583 00:31:06,900 --> 00:31:09,500 But that doesn't seem to square with the disciples reaction in 584 00:31:09,500 --> 00:31:12,800 verse 10 because they're genuinely shocked by what Jesus 585 00:31:12,800 --> 00:31:15,300 says it's not. Like Jesus has said something 586 00:31:15,700 --> 00:31:18,600 that they'd heard before this is something entirely new that has 587 00:31:18,600 --> 00:31:22,200 just said, they clearly see something that Jesus has said, 588 00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:25,400 there's something entirely new and radical, that wouldn't make 589 00:31:25,400 --> 00:31:27,500 sense if he's just siding with shammai. 590 00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:31,100 So there's some arguments against this view, that Jesus is 591 00:31:31,100 --> 00:31:35,700 allowing divorce in cases of sexual immorality, but that's 592 00:31:35,700 --> 00:31:37,700 certainly Within Me to Catholic teaching. 593 00:31:38,100 --> 00:31:41,400 Catholic teaching just says that divorce and then remarriage is 594 00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:45,700 not okay, but this view says that perhaps Jesus is allowing 595 00:31:46,100 --> 00:31:48,500 separation or divorce in some cases. 596 00:31:49,500 --> 00:31:51,000 Let's quickly. Look at some other views though. 597 00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:54,100 There is another view that says the word porneia refers to 598 00:31:54,100 --> 00:31:56,500 incestuous. Marriage has if you look at 599 00:31:56,500 --> 00:32:01,100 Leviticus 18 in this case, the marriage was never valid in the 600 00:32:01,108 --> 00:32:03,300 first place because they married someone that was a close 601 00:32:03,300 --> 00:32:06,600 relation of them. So therefore no adultery is Is 602 00:32:06,608 --> 00:32:09,100 done, if you separate from them because you weren't married in 603 00:32:09,100 --> 00:32:12,900 the first place. And there's some, if you look at 604 00:32:12,900 --> 00:32:16,200 1 Corinthians 5:1, that's clearly the way the word point a 605 00:32:16,200 --> 00:32:19,900 is used and maybe Matthew has to point this out to his readers 606 00:32:19,900 --> 00:32:22,800 because he's writing in what appears to be an Eastern 607 00:32:22,800 --> 00:32:27,300 Mediterranean context. And sort of incestuous marriage 608 00:32:27,300 --> 00:32:30,700 is a pretty common in that part of the world may be poor narrow 609 00:32:30,700 --> 00:32:32,400 first and marriage with the Gentile. 610 00:32:32,400 --> 00:32:34,900 And that would not be acceptable in the eyes of God. 611 00:32:34,900 --> 00:32:38,400 And Matthew is highlighting that for his Which Raiders and again 612 00:32:38,400 --> 00:32:41,000 in that case, that would mean the marriage was not valid in 613 00:32:41,000 --> 00:32:43,800 the first place. So two separate or to divorce, 614 00:32:43,900 --> 00:32:46,500 does not count as adultery because there was no marriage 615 00:32:46,500 --> 00:32:48,800 there. Again, that would explain why 616 00:32:48,800 --> 00:32:52,300 Matthew includes the phrase since these audience is Jewish 617 00:32:52,300 --> 00:32:55,700 and the concern with Gentile relationships but Luke does not. 618 00:32:56,600 --> 00:32:58,800 Maybe porn a, and this is an interesting Theory. 619 00:32:58,800 --> 00:33:01,100 Maybe porneia refers to sexual activity. 620 00:33:01,100 --> 00:33:04,300 With someone else before a marriage is consummated. 621 00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:09,500 So, in this case, since your marriage with that person has 622 00:33:09,500 --> 00:33:12,500 not yet been consummated, it's not yet into soluble. 623 00:33:12,500 --> 00:33:16,500 So if one of the partners has a sexual relationship prior to the 624 00:33:16,500 --> 00:33:18,800 marriage ceremony, well, then you were never married and 625 00:33:18,800 --> 00:33:21,500 therefore the planned marriage can be dissolved. 626 00:33:22,800 --> 00:33:25,700 Now, this is a really interesting Theory because only 627 00:33:25,700 --> 00:33:27,500 Matthew mentions. This exception Clause, what's 628 00:33:27,500 --> 00:33:29,500 something else that are only Matthew mentions? 629 00:33:30,300 --> 00:33:33,600 Well only Matthew mentions that Joseph had plan to divorce. 630 00:33:33,600 --> 00:33:37,700 Marry for this very reason Joseph suspected that Mary had 631 00:33:37,700 --> 00:33:42,800 had sexual relationships with another man During the patroller 632 00:33:42,800 --> 00:33:45,900 period, if you can read that in Matthew chapter 1, verse 19. 633 00:33:45,900 --> 00:33:49,500 So that would explain this exception as well. 634 00:33:50,500 --> 00:33:53,500 And there's another to interpretation that sometimes 635 00:33:53,500 --> 00:33:57,700 called the no comment view which basically says that Jesus is 636 00:33:57,700 --> 00:33:59,400 deliberately not making a comment to you. 637 00:33:59,400 --> 00:34:02,800 So when he says whoever divorces his wife and marries another, 638 00:34:03,100 --> 00:34:04,600 maybe it could be rendered this way. 639 00:34:04,900 --> 00:34:09,100 I'm not going into the subject of unchastity commits adultery. 640 00:34:09,300 --> 00:34:11,900 As in the exception Clause basically means I'm not going to 641 00:34:11,900 --> 00:34:14,000 comment on this particular matter. 642 00:34:15,400 --> 00:34:18,900 So again that would explain my Matthew includes the exception 643 00:34:18,900 --> 00:34:22,400 Clause because the Jews would Interested in which side of the 644 00:34:22,400 --> 00:34:26,500 debate, the Jesus falls on, so I've given you about five 645 00:34:26,500 --> 00:34:28,500 different views. All of them are permitted within 646 00:34:28,500 --> 00:34:33,600 Catholic teaching as long as one does not say Jesus supports 647 00:34:33,600 --> 00:34:37,199 divorce and remarriage, then any interpretation which is 648 00:34:37,199 --> 00:34:38,800 reasonable would be acceptable there. 649 00:34:39,500 --> 00:34:42,900 Hopefully that was a useful exegetical exercise now. 650 00:34:42,900 --> 00:34:46,000 Verse 10, the disciples said to him so now the disciples going 651 00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:49,600 to react to what Jesus said not the Pharisees, the disciples are 652 00:34:49,600 --> 00:34:52,800 going to react They say if that is how things are between 653 00:34:52,800 --> 00:34:56,000 husband and wife. So as in, if those are the 654 00:34:56,000 --> 00:34:58,900 circumstances under which a divorce, her husband can divorce 655 00:34:58,900 --> 00:35:01,800 his wife then it is not advisable to marry. 656 00:35:02,400 --> 00:35:04,300 So they're shocked by Jesus. Strictness here. 657 00:35:04,300 --> 00:35:07,100 He's completely overturned. The long-standing permission 658 00:35:07,100 --> 00:35:12,200 given in the Old Testament. Jesus has just told them that a 659 00:35:12,200 --> 00:35:15,400 man is never Justified to divorce and then get remarried 660 00:35:16,200 --> 00:35:19,900 and the disciples are shocked. They were incredulous that 661 00:35:19,900 --> 00:35:21,900 should tell. Is that what Jesus has just 662 00:35:21,900 --> 00:35:24,300 said, he's radical. He obviously hasn't just said, 663 00:35:24,900 --> 00:35:27,600 you can get divorce and then maybe get remarried in some 664 00:35:27,600 --> 00:35:29,800 situations. He's clearly just said that you 665 00:35:29,800 --> 00:35:31,500 can't get divorced and then remarried. 666 00:35:31,500 --> 00:35:34,600 And that's why they're shocked husbands and wives are bound 667 00:35:34,600 --> 00:35:37,100 together by the sacrament of one flesh. 668 00:35:38,200 --> 00:35:40,000 So, why is there a media response here? 669 00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:42,300 Something like this. It is not advisable to marry. 670 00:35:43,400 --> 00:35:44,900 To us. When we hear that, that might 671 00:35:44,900 --> 00:35:47,400 seem like the being like, they're overreacting a bit, the 672 00:35:47,400 --> 00:35:50,600 being a bit selfish by saying it's not advisable to marry 673 00:35:50,600 --> 00:35:54,200 then, but think about the culture, divorce was pretty 674 00:35:54,200 --> 00:35:57,500 common in the ancient world, including in some Jewish 675 00:35:57,500 --> 00:36:00,200 circles. So, the disciples probably can't 676 00:36:00,200 --> 00:36:04,200 imagine a marriage that where a man is not allowed to divorce 677 00:36:04,200 --> 00:36:06,500 his wife, if the wife is doing the wrong thing. 678 00:36:07,500 --> 00:36:10,700 So they decide that given Jesus high standards here, they say, 679 00:36:10,700 --> 00:36:12,800 well, it's better not to get married in the first place. 680 00:36:14,300 --> 00:36:17,900 Now, we sometimes miss this. Jesus does not deny that, he 681 00:36:17,900 --> 00:36:21,700 seems to agree with them that it's better not to get married 682 00:36:21,700 --> 00:36:23,900 in the first place. That seems a bit controversial, 683 00:36:23,900 --> 00:36:26,000 isn't it? But he seems to agree with them. 684 00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:31,100 Look at the next thing. He says verse 11, it is not 685 00:36:31,300 --> 00:36:35,000 everyone who can accept what I have said or more literally Not 686 00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:37,100 all men can receive this precept. 687 00:36:37,800 --> 00:36:40,500 So our translation, there is confusing because it makes you 688 00:36:40,500 --> 00:36:43,200 think that he's talking about what Jesus himself, just said. 689 00:36:43,400 --> 00:36:47,400 But actually, what it really says, there is not all men can 690 00:36:47,400 --> 00:36:50,300 receive this precept. So what's the this precept? 691 00:36:50,900 --> 00:36:54,200 It seems the precept is thinking of is what the disciples just 692 00:36:54,200 --> 00:36:57,100 said, which is it is not better to marry. 693 00:36:57,500 --> 00:36:59,800 That's the phrase that Jesus is now focusing on. 694 00:36:59,800 --> 00:37:03,700 It is not better to Mary and Jesus says, it is not everyone 695 00:37:03,700 --> 00:37:06,600 who can accept that. What does it mean to say that, 696 00:37:06,600 --> 00:37:09,000 not all men can accept. This isn't Jesus teaching. 697 00:37:09,000 --> 00:37:11,100 Binding on all Christians. How can you say that? 698 00:37:11,100 --> 00:37:13,100 Only some Christians can accept it. 699 00:37:13,900 --> 00:37:17,400 Well, he tells us, he says, only those to whom it is, granted can 700 00:37:17,400 --> 00:37:20,700 accept this. So, in other words, only some 701 00:37:20,700 --> 00:37:22,800 Christians are granted the Grace from God. 702 00:37:22,800 --> 00:37:24,600 Not to marry. This is interesting, isn't it? 703 00:37:24,600 --> 00:37:28,100 Because Jesus seems to be setting up unmarried life as the 704 00:37:28,100 --> 00:37:31,900 ideal, but he's saying that only some Christians will be given 705 00:37:31,900 --> 00:37:36,100 the Grace from God to accept that or to pursue that this is 706 00:37:36,107 --> 00:37:37,800 an important and quite specific teaching. 707 00:37:37,800 --> 00:37:41,800 It tells us that only some people are given God's grace to 708 00:37:41,800 --> 00:37:43,200 accept the teaching that it's better. 709 00:37:43,300 --> 00:37:46,100 Not to marry. And that's important that we 710 00:37:46,100 --> 00:37:49,200 understand that because Paul lighter would say, I wish that 711 00:37:49,200 --> 00:37:52,700 everyone wasn't married like me. But so we're lucky here. 712 00:37:52,700 --> 00:37:56,500 That Jesus says that only some people are given the Grace from 713 00:37:56,500 --> 00:37:58,300 God to actually fulfill that calling. 714 00:37:59,200 --> 00:38:02,800 Jesus, is now going to describe celibacy in quite glowing terms, 715 00:38:02,800 --> 00:38:06,600 and that's pretty surprising. Because Judaism saw procreation 716 00:38:06,600 --> 00:38:10,600 is a duty rather than an option. But Jesus here is going to say 717 00:38:11,500 --> 00:38:12,600 it's actually quite a good thing. 718 00:38:13,300 --> 00:38:16,700 To do celibacy. It's a good option, at the time 719 00:38:16,700 --> 00:38:18,700 of Jesus. There was a one group of Jews 720 00:38:18,700 --> 00:38:22,700 that highly regarded celibacy. So that will be the essence in 721 00:38:22,700 --> 00:38:24,500 qumran. And this is one of the reasons 722 00:38:24,500 --> 00:38:27,800 why, some people think Jesus was quite influenced by the essence 723 00:38:28,400 --> 00:38:31,100 because he agreed with him about celibacy here because no other 724 00:38:31,100 --> 00:38:33,600 Jewish group. Basically, thought that celibacy 725 00:38:33,600 --> 00:38:36,200 was a good call calling for life. 726 00:38:36,800 --> 00:38:39,500 It was only the dawn of Christianity that celibacy 727 00:38:39,500 --> 00:38:45,700 became a mainstream way of Pleasing God before that. 728 00:38:45,700 --> 00:38:47,500 It was basically saying that if you want to please God, you've 729 00:38:47,500 --> 00:38:49,100 got to get married. It's an obligation. 730 00:38:50,700 --> 00:38:53,500 So verse 12, Jesus here is going to mention Unix and this is our 731 00:38:53,500 --> 00:38:55,400 last verse. So what's a eunuch? 732 00:38:55,400 --> 00:38:59,100 A eunuch is basically a man who in that culture, they can't have 733 00:38:59,100 --> 00:39:02,200 sexual intercourse and Jesus is going to talk about three 734 00:39:02,200 --> 00:39:05,300 different kinds of Unix. He says there are eunuchs that 735 00:39:05,300 --> 00:39:07,200 are born that way from their mother's womb. 736 00:39:07,900 --> 00:39:12,000 So unfortunately some males were born with deformities meaning 737 00:39:12,000 --> 00:39:13,400 that they can't have intercourse. 738 00:39:14,100 --> 00:39:16,600 Jesus says there are eunuchs made so by men. 739 00:39:17,200 --> 00:39:21,400 So again In some cultures including Jesus Culture, It's 740 00:39:21,400 --> 00:39:25,100 really interesting, practice some jobs for men, require them 741 00:39:25,100 --> 00:39:27,500 to be eunuchs. In fact, they're made eunuchs 742 00:39:27,500 --> 00:39:30,200 before they start their job, which is pretty full-on, but 743 00:39:30,200 --> 00:39:32,500 that's what happened. For example, it was pretty 744 00:39:32,500 --> 00:39:36,200 common in Royal courts to put a man in charge of the women in 745 00:39:36,200 --> 00:39:38,800 the Royal Court. So, like the princesses and the 746 00:39:38,800 --> 00:39:42,300 other girls in the Royal Court would be overseen by an older 747 00:39:42,300 --> 00:39:49,000 man, but the king and the Royal leaders in order to make sure 748 00:39:49,000 --> 00:39:53,200 that this man overseeing The girls did not violate them, they 749 00:39:53,200 --> 00:39:55,000 would make him a eunuch. So as part of the job 750 00:39:55,000 --> 00:40:00,100 description, And then Jesus says, there are eunuchs who made 751 00:40:00,100 --> 00:40:03,200 themselves that way for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. 752 00:40:03,700 --> 00:40:08,000 Now that corresponds pretty well to the last group because sort 753 00:40:08,000 --> 00:40:11,500 of those men in the Royal courts who became a Unix often there 754 00:40:11,500 --> 00:40:15,200 would do it voluntarily because they loved their King so much. 755 00:40:15,200 --> 00:40:18,400 They were willing to become eunuchs in order to serve the 756 00:40:18,400 --> 00:40:20,000 king. So, that's a nice parallel to 757 00:40:20,000 --> 00:40:22,800 what Jesus says here. Some eunuchs make themselves 758 00:40:22,800 --> 00:40:24,800 that way for the Kingdom of Heaven. 759 00:40:26,000 --> 00:40:27,500 This is the most important category. 760 00:40:27,500 --> 00:40:31,900 This Is the one Jesus wants his disciples to understand and it's 761 00:40:31,900 --> 00:40:36,500 something that's entirely new celibacy for the sake of God was 762 00:40:36,500 --> 00:40:38,100 an entirely new teaching to them. 763 00:40:38,800 --> 00:40:42,600 Jesus teaching here is that there's men probably women as 764 00:40:42,600 --> 00:40:46,700 well, who choose not to get married and embrace celibacy. 765 00:40:47,000 --> 00:40:50,000 And in fact that's a good calling, that is away, imitating 766 00:40:50,000 --> 00:40:52,400 Jesus. And as part of their Ministry, 767 00:40:52,400 --> 00:40:55,900 in the kingdom of God, they have chosen celibacy for the sake of 768 00:40:55,900 --> 00:40:58,500 the Kingdom. So, that's what it means to 769 00:40:58,508 --> 00:41:01,300 become a eunuch for the sake of the kingdom, of means to give up 770 00:41:01,300 --> 00:41:05,000 on Marriage, in to give up on sexual intimacy. 771 00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:08,600 It's to embrace the celibacy people like this. 772 00:41:08,600 --> 00:41:11,900 According to Paul can devote themselves entirely to God. 773 00:41:11,900 --> 00:41:14,400 So celibacy is a bit of a strange Topic in Christian 774 00:41:14,400 --> 00:41:17,100 circles. But even Paul himself says, 775 00:41:17,500 --> 00:41:21,300 celibacy, is a lifestyle that allows a man and a women as 776 00:41:21,300 --> 00:41:23,900 well, to be entirely devoted to God. 777 00:41:24,900 --> 00:41:27,800 So in this sense, people who choose cell See for the kingdom 778 00:41:27,800 --> 00:41:29,600 who choose to be eunuchs for the kingdom. 779 00:41:29,800 --> 00:41:32,500 They anticipate what life will be like in heaven. 780 00:41:32,600 --> 00:41:37,600 If you look at 2:30, Jesus talks about how the angels are also 781 00:41:37,600 --> 00:41:40,300 celibate. And so in that sense Servants of 782 00:41:40,300 --> 00:41:43,800 the Kingdom who are eunuchs? They're getting ready for 783 00:41:43,800 --> 00:41:46,100 heaven. Well, their mimic, what life is 784 00:41:46,100 --> 00:41:49,100 like in heaven. So this text and other texts 785 00:41:49,100 --> 00:41:52,700 from Paul are the foundation for the Catholic teaching the most 786 00:41:52,700 --> 00:41:55,600 priests and Bishops Bishops should be celibate as part of 787 00:41:55,600 --> 00:42:00,800 their service to the kingdom. Jesus finishes, by saying, let 788 00:42:00,800 --> 00:42:04,100 anyone except this, who can or what it actually says, there is 789 00:42:04,100 --> 00:42:07,200 a, he who is able to receive it, let him receive it. 790 00:42:07,900 --> 00:42:10,700 So, what's Jesus saying here about being a eunuch, being 791 00:42:10,700 --> 00:42:13,900 celibate for the kingdom, he acknowledges that not all 792 00:42:13,900 --> 00:42:15,800 Christians will be able to accept it. 793 00:42:15,900 --> 00:42:17,900 In fact, probably not all Christians will be given the 794 00:42:17,900 --> 00:42:21,200 grace to do it, but he's nevertheless encouraging 795 00:42:21,200 --> 00:42:24,400 Christians to accept it. And to think about it. 796 00:42:24,800 --> 00:42:27,900 Jesus encourages the celibate way of life, and he says, it's 797 00:42:27,900 --> 00:42:30,800 valuable in the Kingdom. Gee, we can't get out of this. 798 00:42:30,800 --> 00:42:34,800 Jesus is saying that celibacy ought to be embraced by his many 799 00:42:34,800 --> 00:42:37,300 people in the Kingdom as possible. 800 00:42:37,300 --> 00:42:39,600 He's not saying that it's possible for everyone, but it's 801 00:42:39,600 --> 00:42:41,600 saying it ought to be embraced if possible. 802 00:42:42,900 --> 00:42:46,100 Now, later in Catholic, teaching are the Council of Trent 803 00:42:46,400 --> 00:42:50,500 teachers that if this is sort of a Catholic fact that the 804 00:42:50,500 --> 00:42:54,900 objective state of celibacy Is higher than the married. 805 00:42:54,900 --> 00:42:58,000 Life is a higher calling and it is more pleasing to God. 806 00:42:58,400 --> 00:43:02,200 However, luckily the Council of Trent qualifies that and says 807 00:43:02,200 --> 00:43:05,300 that both vocations are important in the church's life, 808 00:43:05,300 --> 00:43:08,800 we need both and they're both mirror aspects of God's love 809 00:43:08,800 --> 00:43:13,500 differently, but celibacy is the objectively higher, calling you 810 00:43:13,500 --> 00:43:15,100 might not have heard that before, but that is part of 811 00:43:15,107 --> 00:43:20,200 Catholic teaching. So, that's a long episode there, 812 00:43:20,200 --> 00:43:21,900 isn't it? There's heaps and heaps of stuff 813 00:43:21,900 --> 00:43:24,800 that we've said, and And hopefully, you've seen that. 814 00:43:24,800 --> 00:43:26,900 It's valuable to dive into the text in this way. 815 00:43:27,400 --> 00:43:30,100 So I'll just ask you to think about giving to this ministry. 816 00:43:30,100 --> 00:43:33,300 If you have learned something from today's episode, it took me 817 00:43:33,300 --> 00:43:35,900 quite a while to prepare for this episode quite a few hours 818 00:43:35,900 --> 00:43:37,900 actually. And then to record it as well. 819 00:43:37,900 --> 00:43:40,200 This is one of these bigger episodes and if you believe that 820 00:43:40,200 --> 00:43:43,400 the work that we're doing through this ministry is helping 821 00:43:43,400 --> 00:43:46,200 you understand the Bible and draw you closer to the kingdom. 822 00:43:46,600 --> 00:43:49,100 Then please consider becoming a financial supporter of the 823 00:43:49,100 --> 00:43:51,400 ministry. There's information about that 824 00:43:51,400 --> 00:43:55,000 in the show notes. Now, there's all sorts of 825 00:43:55,000 --> 00:43:58,600 amazing paragraphs in the catechism which talk about 826 00:43:59,700 --> 00:44:01,900 Catholic marriage, which talk about marriage in the old 827 00:44:01,900 --> 00:44:04,300 Covenant, which quote from what Jesus says here. 828 00:44:04,700 --> 00:44:08,500 And I'd love to read them all out to you, but it's already a 829 00:44:08,508 --> 00:44:12,100 very long episode, but these paragraphs are some of the best 830 00:44:12,100 --> 00:44:14,700 written in the entire catechism. I think about the purpose of 831 00:44:14,700 --> 00:44:18,000 marriage, and how Jesus gives Grace for the New Covenant 832 00:44:18,000 --> 00:44:20,600 marriage is as well. So, and even talks about 833 00:44:20,800 --> 00:44:24,300 virgins, Christian virgins, who choose to be But for the sake of 834 00:44:24,300 --> 00:44:27,200 the Kingdom, that's covered in the catechism as well. 835 00:44:27,700 --> 00:44:30,200 All sorts of fascinating stuff in there that link to this page 836 00:44:30,700 --> 00:44:32,900 to this passage. There's about 10 paragraphs 837 00:44:32,900 --> 00:44:36,100 actually. So I'll include those in the 838 00:44:36,100 --> 00:44:39,700 show notes for you to look at thank you once again for 839 00:44:39,700 --> 00:44:41,500 listening. I hope you've learned something 840 00:44:41,500 --> 00:44:44,400 new, I certainly did, as I Was preparing for this podcast, 841 00:44:44,500 --> 00:44:47,900 please keep the ministry in your prayers and will continue in 842 00:44:47,900 --> 00:44:49,300 Matthew in the coming days.