Divorce
1 Jesus then left that place and went to the province of Judea, beyond the Jordan River. Once more crowds gathered around him and once more he taught them, as he always did.
2 Some (Pharisees came and) put him to the test with this question, “Is it right for a husband to divorce his wife?”
3 He replied, “What law did Moses give you?”
4 They answered, “Moses allowed us to write a certificate of dismissal in or der to divorce.”
5 Then Jesus said to them, “Moses wrote this law for you, because you are stubborn.
6 But in the beginning of creation God made them male and female,
7 and because of this, man has to leave father and mother and be joined to his wife,
8 and the two shall become one body. So they are no longer two but one body.
9 Therefore let no one separate what God has joined.”
10 When they were indoors at home, the disciples again asked him about this
11 and he told them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against his wife,
12 and the woman who divorces her husband and mar ries another also commits adultery.”
Let the children come to me
13 People were bringing their little children to him to have him touch them, and the disciples rebuked them for this.
14 When Jesus noticed it, he was very angry and said, “Let the children come to me and don’t stop them, for the kingdom of God be longs to such as these.
15 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.”
16 Then he took the children in his arms and laying his hands on them, blessed them.
Jesus and the rich man
17 Just as Jesus was setting out on his jour ney again, a man ran up, knelt before him and asked, “Good Master, what must I do to have eternal life?”
18 Jesus answered, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.
19 You know the commandments: Do not kill, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not cheat, honor your father and mother.”
20 The man replied, “I have obeyed all these commandments since my childhood.”
21 Then Jesus looked steadily at him and loved him and he said, “For you, one thing is lacking. Go, sell what you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven. Then come and follow me.”
22 On hearing these words, his face fell and he went away sorrowful for he was a man of great wealth.
How hard for the rich to discover the kingdom!
23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!”
24 The disciples were shocked at these words, but Jesus insisted, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!
25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
26 They were more astonished than ever and wondered, “Who, then, can be saved?”
27 Jesus looked steadily at them and said, “For humans it is impossible, but not for God; all things are possible with God.”
The reward for those who follow Jesus
28 Peter spoke up and said, “We have given up everything to follow you.”
29 Jesus answered, “Truly, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters, or father or mother, or children, or lands for my sake and for the Gospel,
30 who will not receive his reward. I say to you: even in the midst of per secution he will receive a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and lands in the present time and in the world to come eternal life.
31 Do pay attention: Many who now are first will be last, and the last, first.”
32 They were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead. The Twelve were anxious and those who followed were afraid. Once more Jesus took the Twelve aside to tell them what was to happen to him,
33 “You see we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be given over to the chief priests and the teachers of the Law. They will condemn him to death and hand him over to the foreigners
34 who will make fun of him, spit on him, scourge him and finally kill him; but three days later he will rise.”
James and John ask for the first places
35 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus and said to him, “Master, we want you to grant us what we are going to ask of you.”
36 And he said, “What do you want me to do for you?”
37 They an swered, “Grant us to sit one at your right and one at your left when you come in your glory.”
38 But Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I drink or be baptized in the way I am baptized?”
39 They answered, “We can.” And Jesus told them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and you will be baptized in the way I am baptized.
40 But to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to grant. It has been prepared for others.”
41 On hearing this, the other ten were angry with James and John;
42 Jesus then called them to him and said, “As you know, the so-called rulers of the nations act as tyrants and their great ones oppress them.
43 But it shall not be so among you; whoever would be great among you must be your ser vant,
44 and whoever would be first among you shall make himself slave of all.
45 Think of the Son of Man who has not come to be served but to serve and to give his life to redeem many.”
The blind man of Jericho
46 They came to Jericho. As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a large crowd, a blind beggar, Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside.
47 On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth passing by, he began to call out, “Son of David, Jesus, have mercy on me!”
48 Many people scolded him and told him to keep quiet, but he shouted all the louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called the blind man saying, “Take heart. Get up, he is calling you.”
50 He immediately threw aside his cloak, jumped up and went to Jesus.
51 Then Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said, “Master, let me see again!”
52 And Jesus said to him, “Go your way, your faith has made you well.” And immediately he could see, and he followed Jesus along the road.
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Comments Mark, Chapter 10
• 10.1 MATRIMONY. See notes on Mat thew 19:6.
Is it right for a husband…? (v. 2) Matthew is surely more exact when he adds “for no matter what motive,” for everyone agreed that a wife could be sent away, but reasons justifying a divorce were discussed. Mark goes straight to the point: marriage is an irreversible commitment.
Jesus takes his stand; it is one of those clashes when he shocks everyone, including his disciples – going against general practice sanctioned by the Bible.
Jesus invokes another law of God, in the beginning. In the beginning: that is in the narrative of the Earthly Paradise. We must not forget that in ancient culture the beginning was a golden age where God established ideal institutions. It is clear then that if the authors of the Old Testament authorized divorce it was because the laws of society, even those of God’s people, reflect the level of the moral conscience of an era.
Jesus compares the ideal and the practice. This ideal, however, is not something that one admires without taking it seriously. Where Genesis says: the two shall become one body, Jesus adds: they are no longer two but one body. Over and above any discussion, the unity of the couple is “the” reality in the eyes of God.
Doubtless it would be the wrong way to look on marriage and human love as the human and social features of the first fundamental fact: sexuality. What is first in God’s plan for the universe is the couple of the Son of God made man and humanity that he saves. It is the supreme example of comple men tarity and the alliance of tenderness and fidelity. It is there we have the model couple. All the biological past that prepared the sexes, all the human evolution that brought about the couple only come later: they are reflections of God’s eternal project in creation and in history.
The words of Jesus cannot be jeopardized. They have been spoken in a practice of marriage universally accepted; they have the same value today in the widely spread practice of “non-marriage.” Throughout the Bible love and fidelity are linked, and when the Gospel speaks of losing oneself as a condition of finding oneself, it applies as well for the couple.
What if one of the two betrays the other? Here we are in the domain of human decisions where each one must solve his or her own case and solve it according to the consciousness they already have of their Chris tian vocation. Others must not condemn them, but Jesus takes all authority away from those who pretend to ease the conscience of divorcees as if they had not failed in some way in their Christian vocation.
• 13. Jesus, despite having no children of his own, opens to everyone the richness of his heart. He marvels at the mystery of life that begins full of hope, and discovers the likeness of the Father in every unknown child. How could Jesus, who asks us to have hope, forget that the children are also our hope?
Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child. We must be like children in order to enter the kingdom of God. We must forget our wisdom and self-sufficiency, and the bitterness of past experience in order to receive God’s gifts and words in wonder and simplicity.
• 17. He who comes to Jesus is a young man, according to Matthew (19:16). Luke calls him an important man (18:18).
With deliberation Jesus asks him: Why do you call me good? Do you not see that you are thirsty for God and that you will find him if you live with me? See commentary on Matthew 19:16.
This man asks Jesus the way that leads to eternal life; but Jesus does not have any new commandment to teach. In the Old Testament everything had already been said about what a person should do to win eternal life: by observing the commandments of justice and compassion. Now Jesus proposes to him a new way and a new experience of liberty, through becoming his follower and imitator.
Sell what you have (v. 21). Happiness does not consist in leaving all one has, but in being free of it all in order to submit oneself to Christ.
• 23. Jesus does not say that the rich person will not be saved, but that he will not enter the kingdom of God, which consists in sharing from then on the uncertainties, happiness and liberty of Christ.
In the Old Testament, wealth was never condemned provided that it was shared. Moreover, it was considered as a sign that a person knew how to direct his life well and that God had blessed him. As long as a person does not know how to be free of urgent material problems and to master in some way the goods of this world, something is lacking in his human existence.
To those who already enjoy “being” and “having,” however, Jesus proposes that they leave all and follow him as a condition for entering the Kingdom: this means experiencing already in this life the presence of God the Father.
Who are the rich ones? Those who have money or those who do not take the risk of sharing what they have? Here Jesus is not condemning some evil ones; he does not distinguish between good and bad rich. Jesus speaks of the rich in the common sense of this word (those who have riches) and asserts that their situation prevents them from experiencing the kingdom of God from inside. In speaking thus, Jesus discredits those who would want to bless the rich provided they are “spiritually poor.”
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle (v. 25). People have imagined all kinds of other interpretations: the camel may only mean a filament of camel hair; or the eye of the needle might signify a fairly low door of Jerusalem (which in fact never existed…). the main purpose being to correct the categorical words of Jesus. They would like to make him say: it is difficult, very difficult for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God, but not impossible. Let us leave aside all these interpretations: the apos tles clearly understood the comparison, Jesus said: “Yes, it is impossible.”
Immediately Jesus addresses both the rich and those who judge them; he reminds us of the infinite distance that separates the sinner from the holiness of God, but also of the infinite love of the Father that does the impossible for us. The question, “Who can be saved?” gives Jesus the opportunity to affirm once more that no one is saved by his own merits. God saves people, the rich included, by taking away the benefits and false security provided by their riches. We who await an answer from him, whether we are rich or not, are surely judging others or evaluating our life in terms of merits or demerits. Jesus reminds us that our salvation is the work of God and of him alone.
• 28. Whoever has left house… These words of Jesus that we find again in Mt 19:29 and Lk 18:29 have been given here a notable addition: with persecution. Once the Gospel had been preached the Church began to suffer persecution: From the Year 34, then again in 41 and 62 in Jerusalem, in 64 in Rome with the great persecution ordered by the emperor Nero. During these persecutions Christians experienced the bonds that united them, often stronger than family relationships. Hunted, obliged to hide, they found hundreds of brothers and sisters ready with houses to give them refuge. Jesus does not only speak of reward in the next life. Already in this world, in the midst of persecution, those who sacrifice themselves for the Kingdom will find friendship, joy and human fulfillment far greater than anything they could have hoped for.
• 35. Jesus feels full of courage and confidence, as he himself walks ahead of them to Jerusalem, where his punishment awaits him. Prompted by James’ and John’s request, he tries to convince his followers that success in his Kingdom does not consist in prestige and power, but in following the way of Jesus, their leader.
LEADERS – TO SERVE
What makes a leader? How should a leader be? How do leaders act, the head of a team, of a family? The heads of state smile at crowds and embrace a child who renders them homage, but who serves and who is to be served? Jesus has come to serve and his service to humanity will be his voluntary death: “He made himself obedient, took the condition of a slave and died on the cross” (Phil 2:8).
To drink the cup and to be baptized (v. 38) are figurative ways of describing the suffering and death of Jesus.
In relation to this topic, we cite a short poem of Lao-Tzu, an ancient wise Chinese:
“What have the river and sea done
to be kings of the hundred valleys?
They put themselves below them
and that is why they reign in the hundred valleys.
If the saint wants to be at the top of his people,
first he has to learn how to talk with humility.
If he wants to lead his people,
he should be last.
That is how the saint is at the top of his people
and he doesn’t make them suffer.
Willingly they place him at the top
and do not get tired of him.
Since he doesn’t compete with anybody,
nobody can compete with him.”
• 46. God is the one who moves us to ask some thing of
him. The blind man understands that if he lets this opportunity go by, there will not be another chance, which is why he shouts all the more while the rest try to silence him.
Son of David! was a way of designating the Messiah.