One of the best things about reading a gospel through from beginning to end is that we can see the stories we are so familiar with in their context. We can see how they relate to the other stories and therefore what the big teaching points are.
This week is the end of the Lent Blobble Study. As we enter Holy Week please draw close to the Lord by continuing to read to the end of the gospel.
1He set out from there and went into the district of Judea [and] across the Jordan. Again crowds gathered around him and, as was his custom, he again taught them.2 The Pharisees approached and asked, “Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?” They were testing him.a3He said to them in reply, “What did Moses command you?”4They replied, “Moses permitted him to write a bill of divorce and dismiss her.”5But Jesus told them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts he wrote you this commandment.6But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.c7For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother [and be joined to his wife],d8and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh.9Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate.”10In the house the disciples again questioned him about this.11e He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her;12and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”
Blessing of the Children.13 And people were bringing children to him that he might touch them, but the disciples rebuked them.g14When Jesus saw this he became indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.15Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child* will not enter it.” 16Then he embraced them and blessed them, placing his hands on them.
7 As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”18Jesus answered him, “Why do you call me good?* No one is good but God alone.19You know the commandments: ‘You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not defraud; honor your father and your mother.’”j20He replied and said to him, “Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth.”21Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, “You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to [the] poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”22At that statement his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.
23* Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”k24The disciples were amazed at his words. So Jesus again said to them in reply, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!25It is easier for a camel to pass through [the] eye of [a] needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”26They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves, “Then who can be saved?”27Jesus looked at them and said, “For human beings it is impossible, but not for God. All things are possible for God.”28Peter began to say to him, “We have given up everything and followed you.”29Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the gospel30who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come.31But many that are first will be last, and [the] last will be first.”
Go here for my commentary and reflections for today.
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