Lessons on Divorce and on Love for Children

JESUS and his disciples are on their way to Jerusalem to attend the Passover of 33 C.E. They cross the Jordan River and take the route through the district of Perea. Jesus was in Perea a few weeks earlier, but then he was summoned to Judea because his friend Lazarus was sick. While then in Perea, Jesus spoke to the Pharisees about divorce, and now they bring the matter up again.

Among the Pharisees there are different schools of thought about divorce. Moses said that a woman could be divorced because of “something indecent on her part.” Some believe that this refers only to unchastity. But others consider “something indecent” to include very minor offenses. So, to test Jesus, the Pharisees ask: “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife on every sort of ground?” They are confident that whatever Jesus says will involve him in difficulty with the Pharisees who hold a different view.

Jesus handles the question masterfully, not appealing to any human opinion, but referring back to the original design of marriage. “Did you not read,” he asks, “that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and his mother and will stick to his wife, and the two will be one flesh’? So that they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has yoked together let no man put apart.”

God’s original purpose, Jesus shows, is that marriage mates stick together, that they not get a divorce. If that is so, the Pharisees respond, “why, then, did Moses prescribe giving a certificate of dismissal and divorcing her?”

“Moses, out of regard for your hardheartedness, made the concession to you of divorcing your wives,” Jesus answers, “but such has not been the case from the beginning.” Yes, when God established the true standard for marriage in the garden of Eden, he made no provision for divorce.

Jesus goes on to tell the Pharisees: “I say to you that whoever divorces his wife, except on the ground of fornication [from Greek, por·neiʹa], and marries another commits adultery.” He thereby shows that por·neiʹa, which is gross sexual immorality, is the only ground approved by God for a divorce.

Realizing that marriage should be a lasting union with only this ground for divorce, the disciples are moved to say: “If such is the situation of a man with his wife, it is not advisable to marry.” There is no question that one who is contemplating marriage should seriously consider the permanence of the marital bond!

Jesus goes on to talk about singleness. He explains that some boys are born eunuchs, being incapable of marriage because of not developing sexually. Others have been made eunuchs by men, being cruelly disabled sexually. Finally, some suppress the desire to marry and to enjoy sex relations so that they can devote themselves more fully to matters relating to the Kingdom of the heavens. “Let him that can make room for [singleness] make room for it,” Jesus concludes.

People now begin to bring their young children to Jesus. The disciples, however, scold the children and try to send them away, no doubt wanting to protect Jesus from unnecessary stress. But Jesus says: “Let the young children come to me; do not try to stop them, for the kingdom of God belongs to suchlike ones. Truly I say to you, Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a young child will by no means enter into it.”

What fine lessons Jesus here provides! To receive God’s Kingdom, we must imitate the humility and teachableness of young children. But Jesus’ example also illustrates how important it is, especially for parents, to spend time with their children. Jesus now shows his love for little ones by taking them into his arms and blessing them. Matthew 19:1-15; Deuteronomy 24:1; Luke 16:18; Mark 10:1-16; Luke 18:15-17.

Jesus and a Rich Young Ruler

AS JESUS goes on through the district of Perea toward Jerusalem, a young man runs up and falls on his knees before him. The man is called a ruler, probably meaning that he holds a prominent position in a local synagogue or even that he is a member of the Sanhedrin. Also, he is very rich. “Good Teacher,” he asks, “what must I do to inherit everlasting life?”

“Why do you call me good?” Jesus replies. “Nobody is good, except one, God.” Likely the young man uses “good” as a title, so Jesus lets him know that such a title belongs only to God.

“If, though,” Jesus continues, “you want to enter into life, observe the commandments continually.”

“Which ones?” the man asks.

Citing five of the Ten Commandments, Jesus answers: “Why, You must not murder, You must not commit adultery, You must not steal, You must not bear false witness, Honor your father and your mother.” And adding an even more important commandment, Jesus says: “You must love your neighbor as yourself.”

“All these things I have kept from my youth on,” the man answers with all sincerity. “What yet am I lacking?”

Listening to the man’s intense, earnest request, Jesus feels love for him. But Jesus perceives the man’s attachment to material possessions and so points out his need: “One thing is missing about you: Go, sell what things you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come be my follower.”

Jesus watches, no doubt with pity, as the man rises and turns away deeply saddened. His wealth blinds him to the value of true treasure. “How difficult,” Jesus laments, “it will be for those with money to enter into the kingdom of God!”

Jesus’ words astound the disciples. But they are surprised even more when he goes on to state a general rule: “It is easier, in fact, for a camel to get through the eye of a sewing needle than for a rich man to get into the kingdom of God.”

“Who, in fact, can be saved?” the disciples want to know.

Looking straight at them, Jesus replies: “With men it is impossible, but not so with God, for all things are possible with God.”

Noting that they have made a choice very different from that of the rich young ruler, Peter says: “Look! We have left all things and followed you.” So he asks: “What actually will there be for us?”

“In the re-creation,” Jesus promises, “when the Son of man sits down upon his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also yourselves sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” Yes, Jesus is showing that there will be a re-creation of conditions on earth so that things will be as they were in the garden of Eden. And Peter and the other disciples will receive the reward of ruling with Christ over this earth-wide Paradise. Surely, such a grand reward is worth any sacrifice!

However, even now there are rewards, as Jesus firmly states: “No one has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the good news who will not get a hundredfold now in this period of time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and fields, with persecutions, and in the coming system of things everlasting life.”

As Jesus promises, wherever in the world his disciples go, they enjoy a relationship with fellow Christians that is closer and more precious than that enjoyed with natural family members. The rich young ruler apparently loses out on both this reward and that of everlasting life in God’s heavenly Kingdom.

Afterward Jesus adds: “However, many that are first will be last, and the last first.” What does he mean?

He means that many people who are “first” in enjoying religious privileges, such as the rich young ruler, will not enter the Kingdom. They will be “last.” But many, including Jesus’ humble disciples, who are looked down upon by the self-righteous Pharisees as being “last”​—as being people of the earth, or ‛am ha·’aʹrets—​will become “first.” Their becoming “first” means they will receive the privilege of becoming corulers with Christ in the Kingdom. Mark 10:17-31; Matthew 19:16-30; Luke 18:18-30.

Workers in the Vineyard

“MANY that are first,” Jesus just said, “will be last and the last first.” Now he illustrates this by telling a story. “The kingdom of the heavens,” he begins, “is like a man, a householder, who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard.”

Jesus continues: “When [the householder] had agreed with the workers for a denarius a day, he sent them forth into his vineyard. Going out also about the third hour, he saw others standing unemployed in the marketplace; and to those he said, ‘You also, go into the vineyard, and whatever is just I will give you.’ So off they went. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour and did likewise. Finally, about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing, and he said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day unemployed?’ They said to him, ‘Because nobody has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You too go into the vineyard.’”

The householder, or owner of the vineyard, is Jehovah God, and the vineyard is the nation of Israel. The workers in the vineyard are persons brought into the Law covenant; they are specifically those Jews living in the days of the apostles. It is only with the full-day workers that a wage agreement is made. The wage is a denarius for the day’s work. Since “the third hour” is 9:00 a.m., those called at the 3rd, 6th, 9th, and 11th hours work, respectively, only 9, 6, 3, and 1 hours.

The 12-hour, or full-day, workers represent the Jewish leaders who have been occupied continually in religious service. They are unlike Jesus’ disciples, who have, for most of their lives, been employed in fishing or other secular occupations. Not until the fall of 29 C.E. did the “householder” send Jesus Christ to gather these to be his disciples. They thus became “the last,” or the 11th-hour vineyard workers.

Finally, the symbolic workday ends with the death of Jesus, and the time comes to pay the workers. The unusual rule of paying the last first is followed, as is explained: “When it became evening, the master of the vineyard said to his man in charge, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, proceeding from the last to the first.’ When the eleventh-hour men came, they each received a denarius. So, when the first came, they concluded they would receive more; but they also received pay at the rate of a denarius. On receiving it they began to murmur against the householder and said, ‘These last put in one hour’s work; still you made them equal to us who bore the burden of the day and the burning heat!’ But in reply to one of them he said, ‘Fellow, I do you no wrong. You agreed with me for a denarius, did you not? Take what is yours and go. I want to give to this last one the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I want with my own things? Or is your eye wicked because I am good?’” In conclusion, Jesus repeated a point made earlier, saying: “In this way the last ones will be first, and the first ones last.”

The receiving of the denarius occurs, not at Jesus’ death, but at Pentecost 33 C.E., when Christ, the “man in charge,” pours out holy spirit on his disciples. These disciples of Jesus are like “the last,” or the 11th-hour, workers. The denarius does not represent the gift of the holy spirit itself. The denarius is something for the disciples to use here on earth. It is something that means their livelihood, their everlasting life. It is the privilege of being a spiritual Israelite, anointed to preach about God’s Kingdom.

Soon those hired first observe that Jesus’ disciples have been paid, and they see them using the symbolic denarius. But they want more than the holy spirit and its associated Kingdom privileges. Their murmuring and objections take the form of persecuting Christ’s disciples, “the last” workers in the vineyard.

Is that first-century fulfillment the only fulfillment of Jesus’ illustration? No, the clergy of Christendom in this 20th century have, by reason of their positions and responsibilities, been “first” to be hired for work in God’s symbolic vineyard. They considered dedicated preachers associated with the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society to be “the last” ones to have any valid assignment in God’s service. But it is, in fact, these very ones, whom the clergy despised, who received the denarius​—the honor of serving as anointed ambassadors of God’s heavenly Kingdom. Matthew 19:30–20:16.

JESUS and his disciples are near the Jordan River, where they cross from the district of Perea into Judea. Many others are traveling with them to the Passover of 33 C.E., which is only a week or so away.