Matthew 19:10-12


Matthew 19:10-12
10 The disciples said to Him, “If the relationship of the man with his wife is like this, it is better not to marry.” 11 But He said to them, “Not all men can accept this statement, but only those to whom it has been given. 12 “For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother’s womb; and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men; and there are also eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to accept this, let him accept it.”
The decision to marry is the second most important decision a person will ever make.  The first is the decision to trust Christ.  Most people will get married, it is the natural process of maturity and one of the basic building blocks of the family.  However, marriage is not for everyone.  It is a very serious commitment.  This text demonstrates the risk of marriage and give some of the reasons for singleness.

THE RISKS OF MARRIAGE: The truth about the permanence of marriage and that remarriage results in adultery, caused the disciples to conclude that it would be better not to marry.  Marriage is a choice that must be made with great caution because it is a permanent choice.  Once the decision is made and the marriage has occurred, there is no going back.  It becomes a permanent condition before God and has life-long implications.  Many marriages in the days of Christ were arranged by parents so the husband and wife had little to say in the matter.  Interestingly, these marriages tended to last longer than marriages today when the individuals have almost complete control.  This speaks to the key role of commitment in marriage.  It seems that loving the person to whom we are married is more important than marrying the person we love.  Marriage requires work and flexibility because no matter how well we think we might know our spouse; there will be many surprises along the way.  We must work at becoming the kind of spouse the Scriptures call us to be and be flexible as the Lord grows our spouse through the relationship.  It is a risk to get married because there is no going back, but as long as we are committed, work hard to grow and are flexible with our spouse, God can us marriage in our lives in a wonderful way.

THE REASONS FOR SINGLENESS: Jesus responds to the statement that it would be better not to marry by stating that not everyone can follow this advice but only those who have been given this teaching.  Jesus makes it clear that the majority of people will marry, but not everyone.  Jesus sites three reasons for singleness, referring eunuchs, which is synonymous with castration.  The first is those who were born that way.  This would be a small number of men who are born without functioning sexual organs.  This small number of people are most likely to remain single.  The second is those who have been made this way by men.  This is likely referring to the practice of ancient kings who would sterilize male public servants of high rank in order to protect the king’s harem.  These people would serve the king without distraction but generally did not have any choice in the matter.  At times this was forced upon slave and prisoners of war.  The third is those who would chose to become eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom.  The most literal interpretation of the text would be that some castrated themselves in order to serve the kingdom of God without the distraction.  However, in the previous chapter Jesus spoke of self-mutilation in order to avoid temptation and we do not take this instruction as literal.  It seems like this could be a chosen life of celibacy in order to be free to serve in the kingdom.  Whatever the question at hand entails, Jesus indicates that these three motives would be the reasons not to get married.  Singleness certainly provides for freedom to serve the Lord unencumbered, but marriage is designed by God to help us grow in our understanding of Him and to sanctify us to be more like Christ.  No other passages encourage castration, but there are others that would encourage refraining from marriage or from sex within marriage for the purpose of prayer.  Remaining single to promote the kingdom of God in foreign or hostile territory may be wise or necessary, but this is the exception and not the rule.

APPLICATION: Marriage is a sacred thing to God and should never be entered into lightly.  Much more is at stake in our marriages than our own happiness.  There may be instances where, for the sake of the kingdom, it would be wise to remain single.  Most instances prove that marriage gives us the greatest opportunity to learn more about God and project the image of God to a world that desperately needs to see God through us.

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