Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

The question about divorce

19 So this is what happened next. When Jesus had finished saying all this, he went away from Galilee and came to the region of Judaea across the Jordan. ² Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.

³ Some Pharisees approached him with a trick question.

“Is it lawful,” they asked, “for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?”

⁴ “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that the creator from the beginning ‘made them male and female’? ⁵ And this is what he said: ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ ⁶ As a result, they are no longer two, but one flesh. So humans shouldn’t split up what God has joined together.”

⁷ “So then,” they asked, “why did Moses lay it down that one should give the woman a certificate of divorce and make the separation legal?”

⁸ “Moses gave you this instruction about how to divorce your wives,” replied Jesus, “because your hearts were hard. But that’s not how it was at the beginning. ⁹ Let me tell you this: anyone who divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman, commits adultery.”

Marriage, celibacy and children

¹⁰ The disciples said to Jesus, “If that’s the situation of a man with his wife, it would be better not to marry!”

¹¹ “Not everyone can accept this word,” replied Jesus; “only the people it’s given to. ¹² You see, there are some eunuchs who are that way from birth. There are some who have been made eunuchs by others. And there are some who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. If anyone can receive this, let them do so.”