In the three years the disciples spent with Jesus, they got to see Him do and hear Him teach amazing stuff! They also got to hear Him teach some hard & unpopular things. This chapter has some of those. First off, Jesus is asked by the Pharisees, who were always looking for loopholes and a chance to get Him to stumble,, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" Jesus addresses “lawful” vs “permitted.” Jesus replies, “God 'made them male and female. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." And if you divorce your spouse and remarry – you commit adultery because God doesn’t recognize the divorce. Go ahead and try to tell couples who get divorced that they can’t remarry. NOT popular.
Next, Jesus is asked by a rich man what it takes to inherit eternal life. Jesus tells him he must keep the commandments and the rich dude says he has – since he was a boy! I find this hard to believe, but Jesus doesn’t address it. He instead goes straight for the heart because he knows that where your heart is, your treasure is! "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." The rich man left sad. Why? He loved his wealth more than God and his keeping of all the commandments was for the wrong reasons! He was a fan, not a follower. It is hard for a rich man to enter heaven! NOT popular!
Following this, Jesus predicts his death for the third time and then is asked by James & John ( or maybe their mom) if they can sit on Jesus right & left in heaven. Guess they forgot the humility lesson from the last chapter! Anyway, as Jesus usually does, he answers their question with a question that in essence means “can you do & go thru what I will?” Ummmm no, but they answer yes. And in some ways they can because Jesus knows James will be beheaded for his faith and John will be exiled for his! NOT Popular! Jesus basically ends up telling them it’s not up to Him but God.
SO WHAT?!
*USA statistics on divorce mean that most of those reading this devo come from a divorced family. I did. My wife Jean did. It’s always a hard experience for all involved. But YOU AND I can get off the divorce train in our generation! Make sure both of you place GOD at the center of your marriage, KNOW the person whom you are marrying and finally, how about KEEPING your promise no matter what! You made it to God and to your spouse – just keep it! Jean & I have now been married since July of 1990 and we aren’t gonna’ divorce – we promised! And by the way, we LOVE being married to each other and WORK at keeping it that way! You too can make this decision right now, even if you’re not married yet!
*If world statistics are true, then ALL of us reading this (and the one writing it) are rich! Come on, we live in the US, in TEXAS, in KATY and next to CINCO RANCH………and we have JESUS! We’re rich. So let’s not let our riches be the treasure of our hearts, that’s where Jesus needs to be!
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