Matthew 19:1-12
New Catholic Bible
The Coming of the Son of Man[a]
The Ministry in Judea and Jerusalem
Chapter 19
Marriage and Celibacy.[b] 1 When Jesus had finished this discourse, he left Galilee and came into the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. 2 Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.
3 Some Pharisees came forward and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason whatsoever?” 4 He replied, “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female’ 5 and said: ‘That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two become one flesh’? 6 And so they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
7 They said to him, “Why then did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?” 8 He replied, “It was because you were so hard-hearted that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but it was not like this from the beginning. 9 Now I say to you: if a man divorces his wife for any reason except if the marriage was unlawful and marries another, he commits adultery.”
10 His disciples said to him, “If that is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.” 11 He replied, “Not everyone can accept this teaching, but only those to whom it has been given. 12 For there are eunuchs who have been made so from birth and eunuchs who were made so by others, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let those accept this who can do so.”[c]
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Matthew 19:1 A new series of incidents, followed by a great discourse on the end of the world, make up the fifth part of the Gospel of Matthew. Jesus now goes to Judea, location of the official religion.
- Matthew 19:1 The interpreters of the Law thought up many subtle ways of making divorce easy; they lacked understanding of the essential point. Jesus’ purpose is to recover the purity of the original state and the will of the Creator himself for the human race. He could not allow the unity of the couple to be at the mercy of circumstances, since this unity had been asserted by God as a call inherent in the very condition of man and woman (see Gen 2:24).
Did the rule admit exceptions? The phrase in v. 9: “except if the marriage was unlawful,” has been the subject of much debate (on this point see what was said at Mt 5:32). In the Judaism of that age, not to marry seemed something repugnant and almost a crime; not to have a posterity seemed a punishment; however, some religious sects did practice voluntary continence. John and Jesus had renounced marriage in order to live solely for their mission of proclaiming the kingdom of God. - Matthew 19:12 The virginity recommended by Jesus manifests the new creation of the New Covenant and is the prelude to the kingdom (see Mt 22:30). However, the renunciation of marriage out of love for the kingdom is possible only through the medium of a charism, a special gift of God (see 1 Cor 7:7).
