Matthew 19 - God resist the proud but exalt the lowly
The Pharisees came to Jesus Christ to test Him about divorce where Jesus Christ answered wisely that God did not intent for divorce. A husband should leave his parents & be joined together with his wife, it is a hard saying for some parents but it is wisely so because now they have become one flesh meaning in one mind & one heart as well. Parents often comes in the way of a marriage, not saying all but some & it causes a lot of unnecessary conflict, a man would feel guilty to the parents & to the wife until he lost himself. As parents, one should be understanding as well not to overstep the boundary of a marriage, what if the parents-in-law came in & disrupt the harmony then? It’s the same thing that the children will feel torn & guilty if they are force to take sides.
The center of the message though in this is not to leave the parents helpless or dishonoring them, but it’s to build a family with the wife together as one, to support & build up each other. So then the Pharisees asked about Moses’ command to divorce to state that it is lawful for divorce, again it’s not about lawful or lawlessness, it’s about the heart of God, divorce is destructive towards a family that often involves children as well, for the culture in their era, it is extremely difficult for a divorce woman to have any rights at all & they will have no social status, meaning their livelihood will be in jeopardy. That was why there’s a standard, when it is adultery, then they can divorce. For the sentence of who marries a divorced woman commits adultery is not separated from the former sentence but it’s to prevent a divorce for the sake of a man or woman wanted to be with someone else. A marriage is a covenant & it is sacred, rightfully so that it is as serious as the covenant of God with Israel as well. Hence the frequent reference of marriage in the relationship with God & Israel, Jesus Christ & the church.
The next paragraph touched the issues of striving with self-effort, but the key phrase is “For mortals it is impossible, but for God all things are possible.” The rich often rely on their own wealth & fall into temptation of pride easily hence the young man wanted to strive to be perfect than the given law, it had revealed his heart of his reliance on his ability, self-righteousness & wealth. So when Jesus Christ ask for that one security that he cannot do without, he went away grieving because now he sees the truth about his own heart.
To one that is self-centered, self-righteous or self-dependent, it will be hard for them to accept that there’s actually something that they cannot do or achieve & they feel sad because they can’t achieve it not because they were not saved. This root out from pride & trust in self rather than trust in God, who tried to earn God’s favor, blessing, grace & salvation… but it is given & often times they cannot accept that. Hence it is important to be humble & acknowledge that God is the creator who created human and all beings. He was the one that created the whole earth & space. So this connection made sense with the “many who are first will be last, and the last will be first”, it’s to address the issue of pridefulness which God resist but He exalt the lowly. Just like when Jesus Christ blessed the little children & taught that the kingdom of heaven belongs to them.