Matthew 19 Commentary
Please choose a passage:
Matthew 19:1-2
Jesus leaves Galilee and moves closer to Jerusalem where He will soon be crucified and resurrected. He enters the area known as Judea beyond the Jordan where He heals many among the large crowds that followed Him from Galilee.
Matthew 19:3-9
The Pharisees come to Jesus and test Him about what Moses said about divorce. They were trying to trap Him. Jesus begins His answer by focusing on what Moses said about marriage before rebuking their hard-heartedness and answering their question.
Matthew 19:10-12
Following what the Pharisees said about marriage, disciples observe that it is better to not marry. Jesus then speaks about serving God as an unmarried eunuch for those who can accept this lifestyle.
Matthew 19:13-15
Little children are brought to Jesus, but the disciples turn them away. Jesus calls them back and says to let them come. He tells the disciples that the kingdom of God belongs to them and He lays hands upon them before leaving.
Matthew 19:16-22
A devout young man who had great influence and wealth remarkably runs to Jesus and asks what else he can do to enter into eternal life. Jesus loves and admires his zeal and tells him to sell his possessions and give to the poor, and follow Him.
Matthew 19:23-26
Jesus says that is very difficult for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. He compares this difficulty with a camel passing through the eye of a needle. The disciples wonder aloud who then can be saved to enter the kingdom.
Matthew 19:27-30
After Jesus’s interaction with the rich young ruler, Peter expresses a concern about whether they have done enough to enter life. Implied is an underlying question about whether following Jesus is worth the risk or cost.
Additional Resources
The Gospel of Matthew was written to demonstrate to the Jews of Jesus, the Messiah’s generation that He was indeed the Christ. Matthew thematically substantiates the Messianic identity of Jesus beginning with the genealogy of Jesus, which ran from Abraham, the father of Israel’s people through King David who was promised to have a son who would be on Israel’s throne forever. Throughout his Gospel account Matthew makes use of numerous prophecies both explicitly stated and by way of subtle allusion to support his thesis. Matthew further makes use of parallel events in Jesus’s life to those of Messianic figures from the Old Testament (Moses, Joseph, David, etc.) to bolster his argument.
Jesus came to offer the Jews the chance to participate in the inauguration of the Messianic Kingdom. To do this, they would have to receive and follow Him as their Messiah. Jesus’s message was “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). Ultimately, they rejected Him as their Messiah and condemned Jesus to death by crucifixion. The Jews’ rejection of the Messiah opened the door for Gentiles to enter the kingdom (Matthew 8:11-12, 22:1-10). Matthew’s Gospel is therefore a call for the Jews repent of their murder of Jesus and to embrace Him for the divine Messiah He is.
Matthew shows how their rejection of Him and His brutal death was predicted not only by Jesus Himself, but also was foretold in the Jewish scriptures of the Messiah.
The main proof that Jesus was the Messiah was “the sign of Jonah” (Matthew 12:39, 16:4). This was Jesus’s death and resurrection from the dead. “Just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40).
Because Matthew’s Gospel was written to people who were already members of God’s eternal family by virtue of their faith in God’s promise to send the Messiah, Matthew emphasizes the “reward of eternal life” (aka “The Prize of Eternal Life”) rather than “the Gift of Eternal Life”. In other words, Matthew’s Gospel focuses on how to “enter the kingdom” rather than how to “be born again”.
Matthew’s Gospel demonstrates how Jesus came to fulfill the law and open a way for God’s people to participate in the Messianic kingdom if they would follow His example of worshiping God from the heart by forgiving and serving others.
For “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). If we have faith to follow the example set forth by the resurrected Messiah, whom all authority on heaven and earth has been granted (Matthew 28:18) and take up our cross for His sake (Matthew 16:24-25), then we will become great in His kingdom (Matthew 20:26).
Finally, Matthew provides extensive samples of Jesus’s teachings including “the Sermon on the Mount”, “the Little Commission”, and “the Olivet Discourse” and many parables, alongside accounts of numerous miracles and wonders, personal moments with His twelve disciples, interactions with seekers, and increasingly as his Gospel account progresses: challenges and confrontations with His adversaries – the Pharisees, Scribes, and Priests.
Jesus leaves Galilee for the last time and goes south toward Jerusalem where He will be crucified, to the area known as Judea beyond the Jordan. Pharisees there try to ensnare Him in a controversy about the practice of divorce and the Law of Moses. Jesus undermines their trap. Jesus rebukes His disciples for discouraging children from being brought to Him. A rich man asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life, but departs disappointed with His answer. This prompts Jesus to teach His disciples about entering the kingdom. Peter is concerned that he won’t make it in despite leaving everything. Jesus assures him that everyone who has forsaken their own lives for His sake will not lose their reward.
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