Matthew 19

http://www.esvbible.org/Matthew+19/

The Pharisees try to test Jesus again. This time, they ask Him if a man can divorce His wife. Jesus does what He does best and answers their question with another question. He asks them if they've heard it said that God made male and female in the beginning so that a man will leave his parents and become one with his wife. They are no longer two entities but one in the Lord's sight. No one should separate what the Lord has made one. The Pharisees think they have Him now, and they ask Jesus why Moses told them that they needed to give their wives a notice of divorce. Jesus answers that Moses did so because they are heartless people and cannot truly love their wives because they do not love the Lord. Jesus guarantees them that it was never that way in the beginning. To take it a step further, Jesus tells them that if a man divorces his wife for any reason other than her unfaithfulness and gets remarried, he commits adultery with his new wife. The disciples tell Him that it sounds better for a man not to get married in the first place, and Jesus says for some men that is true. Paul explains this further in 1 Corinthians 7 saying that you should get married if you cannot bear to be without the significant other, but if marriage will keep you distracted from God, you should not marry.

Some parents brought their children to Jesus so that He could bless them, but the disciples tried to send them away. Jesus told them not to send children away from Him because they too are part of the Kingdom. Do not discourage children. Matthew brings it up here again after the first few stories where he mentions it.

A young man came to Jesus and asked how he could enter Heaven. Jesus told him there is no way to be good only one who is good, and the young man should follow His commandments. The young man asks what commandments, and Jesus lists a few of the ten, and the young man replies that he has kept all of those. Jesus of course knows this is not true because whoever follows all of the commandments has not sinned and everyone has sinned an innumerable amount of times. Jesus instead tells the young man to go sell all of his property and give the riche to the poor. Then, follow Jesus. The young man is very sad because he is quite wealthy. Jesus tells the crowd that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to go to Heaven. This is because the rich tend to follow their money instead of following Jesus, but it all came from Jesus in the first place. The disciples are more shocked than ever, and they ask Jesus how people are saved. Jesus tells them that no one can save themselves, it is only possible for God to saves. The disciples say that they gave up everything and followed Jesus, what about them? Jesus tells them that when He sits on His throne in Heaven, they will sit on twelve thrones by Him and judge the twelve tribes of Israel. They will also judge all who have given things up for Christ.