Mattoax and Pine Grove Presbyterian Churches, Amelia, Virginia

Mattoax and Pine Grove Presbyterian Churches, Amelia, Virginia Mattoax Pine Grove Presbyterian Church Mattoax and Pine Grove have shared worship services. Currently we are meeting every Sunday at 11:00 a.m.

at Mattoax Presbyterian Church, 14600 Chula Road, Amelia, Virginia 23002.

09/15/2026

Prayer for Illumination

Blessed are you, O LORD, our God,
for you will to be found,
you will for us to call upon you,
you will for us to forsake our ways and thoughts,
you will for us to return to you,
so that you may have compassion on us.
As the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so send forth your word from your mouth today;
do not let it return to you empty,
but instead let it accomplish in us that which is your purpose,
and let it succeed in the thing for which you sent it to us.
Teah us your way.
This we pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

(Isaiah 55, Psalm 27, Matthew 20)

09/15/2026

Prayer of Invocation

O LORD our God,
our light and our salvation,
the stronghold of our lives,
the King of heaven,
God and Father of Jesus Christ:
Your thoughts are not our thoughts,
neither are your ways our ways.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are your ways higher than our ways
and your thoughts than our thoughts.
Let us dwell in your house all the days of our lives,
to gaze upon your beauty and to inquire in your temple.
Hear, O LORD, when we cray aloud;
be gracious to us and answer us!
You have said, "Seek my face."
Our heart says to you, "Your face, LORD, do we seek."
Glory be to you,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
forever and ever. Amen.

(Isaiah 55, Psalm 27, Matthew 20)

09/15/2026

The Last Will Be First!

Isaiah 55:6–11; Psalm 27:1–14; Matthew 20:1–16 (ESV)
September 13, 2026

Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, during his earthly life, went to great lengths to help his first disciples learn what it would mean to follow him. Our risen and glorified Lord Jesus Christ, yet today, continues to go to great lengths to help even us learn what it means to follow him. And he uses the very same teachings, which Matthew has preserved for us for precisely that reason. The Apostle Peter, apparently speaking for all twelve disciples and comparing themselves favorably to the rich young man who apparently decided not to follow Jesus and went away from him, voiced their concern that they had given up everything to follow Jesus in this life, and yet, given the uncertainty of the future, they were wondering what if anything they would have in the life to come. Jesus graciously reassured them that they would receive back what they had left behind a hundred times over, which seems unimaginable to me. But then he reprimanded them, also, and strangely warned them, “Many who are first will be last, and the last first” (Matthew 19:30). This verse is breathtaking. Even “many” of Jesus’ first disciples, chronologically, will be in last place in the kingdom to come. At the very least, they and we would be better off not comparing our sacrifices to others’, not comparing our importance to others’, not presuming to judge ourselves greater than others. That is simply not to be done anywhere in the Christian church. And with our heads still reeling from that, Jesus launches right into today’s parable of the laborers in the vineyard, with its startling teaching of what judgment day will include.

Proclamation: Extravagant Grace

You have heard the story: “For the kingdom of heaven”—elsewhere referred to as the kingdom of God, totally distinct from, and not be confused with, any kingdom or empire here on earth—“is like a master of a house”—the owner of a grand house, an estate with properties stretching beyond the horizon—“who went out early in the morning”—it may have been before dawn, if the workday went from 6:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m.—“to hire laborers for his vineyard”—that it was his vineyard and not theirs emphasizes again that he was the master and that they were not (Matthew 20:1). “After agreeing with the laborers”—that is who they are and what they are to do in this story—“for a denarius a day,”—that was the name of a small coin worth a day’s wage—“he sent them into his vineyard”—again, vineyard was his, and, as will become important later in the story, every denarius was his, also (Matthew 20:2). So far, so good. The stage is set for a good day’s work in the master’s vineyard.
But then, something strange begins to happen. At least, it seems strange to me. “And going out”—why he went again, we are not told, but this does seem to indicate an urgency about the labor—“about the third hour”—about 9:00 a.m.—“he”—the master of the house—“saw others standing idle in the marketplace,”—apparently the place for day laborers to gather, though I have never understood why either they were not there earlier or he did not engage them earlier, except to say that the story depends upon it—“and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’—He makes no mention of a denarius this time, and we are left to wonder what is right for three-fourths a day’s labor, and why he says “give” instead of “pay”—“So they went”—part-day laborers apparently trusting in the master’s fairness, righteousness, and maybe even goodness (Matthew 20:3–5a).
Then this little oddity is told three more times, getting stranger every time: “Going out again about the sixth hour”—12:00 noon—“and the ninth hour,”—3:00 p.m.—“he”—the master—“did the same”—engaging more and more partial-day laborers and sending them to do less and less work, promising to give them whatever is right (Matthew 20:5b). “And about the eleventh hour”—5:00 p.m.!—“he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’—How did that happen? The only explanation we have is the one they give—“They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too’” (Matthew 20:6–7). Why he still needed them or wanted them we are not told. But now the day is nearly done, and the stage is set for the main event.
“And when evening came,”—6:00 p.m., and the light was fading, and the work was done—“the owner of the vineyard”—clearly the same person previously identified as the master of the house, with even greater emphasis here on his ownership, which will come into play in just a moment—“said to his foreman,”—whom we have not met before—“‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages,’”—clearly a reference to the end of time and to the day of judgment—
“‘beginning with the last, up to the first’”—which, of course, seems highly irregular, but is entirely necessary for the story to work at all and, I think, offers us a glorious opportunity to which we shall come in just a moment (Matthew 20:8). “And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius”—a full day’s wage (Matthew 20:9)! This is amazing! This is the high point of the story! When the master of the house had told them he would give them whatever was right, surely no one expected this. No one anticipated a full day’s payment. And given that this entire parable is about the kingdom of heaven, and given that the master of the house represents the Lord God Almighty himself, and given that the day’s wage of a denarius represents salvation and eternal life, what Jesus is telling us here is that the grace of God his Father is extravagant beyond all our imagination or ability to comprehend. God gives full salvation even to those of us who, on any human standard of calculation, certainly do not deserve it. We could wish the story ended right here, but it does not.
Instead, it takes an ugly turn and runs downhill. “Now when those hired first came,”—and suddenly we remember that immediately prior to this story Jesus said to his disciples and so to us, “Many who are first will be last”—“Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more”—even we are holding our breath with them—“but each of them also received a denarius” (Matthew 20:10). Oh! That was entirely fair but so, so hurtful to our human way of reckoning. And to make matters worse, they said so out loud. “And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat’” (Matthew 20:11–12). Note, again, they were comparing what they had done with what others had done or not done. That is never good. “But he”—the master of the house—“replied to one of them, ‘Friend,’”—what a gracious way of addressing him!—“‘I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go’” (Matthew 20:13–14a). Before we go on with the rest of his reply to them, which is very important, I want to note that these first-hired laborers received exactly what they had been offered, to which they had agreed, and all that they could have rightly expected. They should have been satisfied and content. They could have walked away without complaint, and that might have been the end of the story. Moreover, in addition to failing to be grateful for what they were paid, they also missed the prior opportunity, when the last-hired workers were paid first and paid so marvelously fully—the first-hired workers missed the opportunity then to be grateful for what the master of the house paid the last-hired workers, to be joyful that the master of the house was generous beyond all human expectation, to stand in awe and wonder in the presence of such greatness, and indeed, in the very point of the story, to rejoice in the extravagant grace of God. We realize that such gratitude would be very difficult, humanly speaking, but I believe that this parable is calling us, with the advantage we have of hearing it over and over again, precisely to that appropriate appreciation of God’s generosity.

Explication: Startling Freedom

To continue, the master of the house, clearly speaking as God to the laborers on judgment day, said, “‘I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you’” (Matthew 20:14b). This all comes down to God’s choice, not to ours. Moreover, “‘Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?’” (Matthew 20:15a). That is to say, this entire story about the extravagant grace of God to us has to do with the startling freedom of God to do exactly as he chooses. We humans, and sometimes I think especially we Americans, are particularly impressed with our freedom of choice and with the related but distinct freedom of will. But with this story, Jesus teaches and encourages us to step back from our own little decisions and to consider first the startling and tremendous freedom of God. “‘Or’”—as the master says—“‘do you begrudge my generosity?’” (Matthew 20:15b). That stings! Let us never begrudge the generosity of God. The overwhelming generosity of God is our only good hope.
Finally, Jesus concludes this parable almost where he began, except that he reverses the two parts of his saying: “So the last will be first, and the first last.” (Matthew 20:16). He had begun by warning his first disciples and any of the rest of us who tend to think of ourselves as first to beware lest we be last on judgment day. And now he concludes by teaching us that those whom we may regard as the last and the least in the world and maybe in the church will be first in the kingdom to come. And I suspect that, no matter how many times we read this parable, that will still surprise us.
Who are these first and these last? This parable has been understood and interpreted in many ways through the centuries. Some have thought that the ancient people of Israel were first and that the then new Christians were last. That makes sense. Some have thought that the Jewish Christians were first and that the Gentile Christians were last. That is certainly plausible. Some have thought that lifelong Christians, “who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat” were first and that those coming to the faith very late in life, such as the thief crucified on the cross next to Jesus or those having what we call deathbed conversions are last. And some have even thought that long-lived Christians are first while those dying in infancy and so having only a very short life are last. There are probably many other ways of understanding this parable. We do not have to choose only one. Different ones may speak to the church in different ways in different centuries and in different countries. Different ones may speak to each of us in different ways in different times in our lives. Through all of these various understandings, let us beware of thinking too highly of ourselves and let us welcome the last and the least among us.

Application: Gratitude and Graciousness

Given that the main emphasis in today’s reading is the wonderful and extravagant grace of God, pouring out upon us his good gifts of salvation and eternal life, far beyond what we can imagine or deserve, let us rejoice in his goodness to us and live lives of profound and increasing gratitude to him, in our faith, in our prayers, in our worship, in our offerings, in our very breathing, in our singing, in our laughing, in our attitude, and in every aspect of our lives. God’s good and extravagant grace to us intends to elicit from us our gratitude to him. Let us not disappoint him.
Moreover, precisely as we are taught here that the last will be first, probably to our everlasting astonishment, though let us hope and pray not to our indignation, resentment, or grumbling, let us realize and learn that God’s good and extravagant grace to us intends also to elicit from us our graciousness to each other, especially though not, of course, exclusively to those whom we might perceive as the last and the least among us. “So the last will be first, and the first last.”

To God be the glory forever and ever! Amen.

© Dr. James C. Goodloe IV, Covenant Pastor
Mattoax Pine Grove Presbyterian Church
14600 Chula Road, Amelia, VA 23002
15650 Genito Road, Amelia, VA 23002

09/07/2026

Come, Follow Me!

Exodus 20:1–17, Psalm 19:1–14. Matthew 19:16–30 (ESV)
September 6, 2026

"And behold, a man came up to him [Jesus], saying, ‘Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?’” (Matthew 19:16). It would be easy for us to criticize this man’s question, especially with the advantages we have both of knowing the rest of the Gospel According to Matthew and of having two thousand years of the church of the church praying over, listening to, and trying to learn from this text. So, for instance, “Teacher” is hardly a sufficiently respectful way to address the Lord of the universe. “What good deed must I do” assumes both that he is capable of doing a good deed and also that his good deed could earn him eternal life. And “to have eternal life” suggests that it is a possession that he could somehow gain and control as his own. So, there are problems here of which we want to be aware and which we shall try to address as we go along.
Having said that, the question is also important, even if it is not asked quite correctly. Life here on earth is very short. Eternity is very long. As grateful as we are for this good life, and maybe precisely because it is good and we are grateful for it, it is also appropriate for us to look beyond this life and to be interested in, concerned about, and attentive to eternal life, even if, and perhaps especially because, we do not yet know enough about it to ask the right questions. So it is that Jesus does not reject this man, whose name we do not know, and does not reject his question, but instead answers him and leads him and us with him into some better understanding and some increased self-awareness.

Proclamation: Eternal Life

“And he [Jesus] said to him [the man], ‘Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good’” (Matthew 19:17a). The humility and gentleness that Jesus exhibits here are striking, especially in contrast to his pointed criticisms of, and even harshness toward, those people who openly opposed him and who asked him questions not at all to learn from him but only to try to trick him, to expose him as a fraud, and so to alienate the crowds from him. Again, what Jesus says here and how he says it both indicate that he accepts this man’s question as genuine, valid, and worthy of answering. Moreover, the deference to God that Jesus articulates here is also striking. He does not lead by asserting his own goodness or importance. He does not insist upon immediate acknowledgment of his own divinity. Instead, he affirms the wonderful goodness of God, which includes both the holiness of God and yet also the loving kindness of God, and he affirms the unity and oneness of God, so important in the world of pluralism and paganism then and now. So it is that the first thing Jesus does is to point away from himself to God our Creator in heaven. I want to come back to this in a moment.
Jesus continues, “If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” (Matthew 19:17b). Already he is beginning to make subtle changes. “Eternal life” is characterized as “life” itself, suggesting that eternal life can and does begin here, in this old world. Throughout the rest of this reading, he also describes it as being “perfect” in this life and as having “treasure in heaven” (Matthew 19:21). And when his own disciples ask, “Who then can be saved?” (Matthew 19:25), another way of asking the same question, Jesus assures them that they “will inherit eternal life” (Matthew 19:30), though not at all as a human possibility but entirely by the work of God (Matthew 19:26). More about that in a moment. Note also the change of action from the man’s question of what to do to “have” eternal life to the gracious invitation that Jesus gives him to “enter” life. This suggests that life itself is not merely one more possession among many or even the most prized possession among many but is instead a good and loving relationship with God our Creator and only therefore with each other as fellow creatures. Yes, this life is to be sought and found and cherished, but it is very different from what the man imagined and maybe different from what we think, also. What, then, are we to do?
“If you would enter life,” and that seems to be a good and worthy thing for him and us to seek to do, “keep the commandments.” You and I may have learned from centuries and millennia of church teaching—all the way from the Apostle Paul in the Bible to Augustine at the fall of the Roman Empire, to Martin Luther at the end of medieval Europe, to John Calvin at the beginning of the modern world, all the way down to us—we may have learned that we cannot save ourselves by our obedience to the law of the Old Testament and conversely that we can be saved only by the grace of God in Jesus Christ. That is true, but it is not quite the question being addressed here, at least not yet. We shall come back to that distinction in a moment. For now, let us hear and receive the prior teaching and affirmation which Jesus makes here that both eternal life and therefore all true human life are lived in conformity with, and therefore in obedience to, and in fulfillment of, God’s good and gracious will for us. God first thought of us and designed us precisely for this life with him. God created us for this life with him. God continues to call us into this life with him. Despite everything we have done to ruin this and even to run away, Jesus continues to seek us out and to lead us into this life. “If you would enter life, keep the commandments.”
“He [the man] said to him [Jesus], ‘Which ones?’” (Matthew 19:18). Again, this sounds like a problem to me. The man seems to be balking, to be narrowing down the requirements, trying to make the whole endeavor more manageable and doable. But still, Jesus does not reprimand him. Instead, he calmly answers this question with an initial list of some though not all of the commandments. “He [the man] said to him [Jesus], ‘Which ones?’ And Jesus said, ‘You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Matthew 19:18–19). We recognize these, of course, as five of the last six of the Ten Commandments, that second table of the law having to do with duty to neighbor, and also the law of love of neighbor, which is not only a summary of the second table but is also, according to a later teaching of Jesus himself, a second and inseparable commandment along with the great and first commandment of love of God (Matthew 22:34–40).
This is a lot already. We have been taught to question our own seeming accomplishments. Even if we have not murdered anyone, have we injured anyone? Even if we have not committed adultery, have we lusted after someone? Even if we have not stolen, have we given to those in need? Even if we have not lied, have we always told the truth? Have we honored our father and mother as much as we could and should? But these questions of ours were not this man’s questions. Instead, “The young man said to him, ‘All these I have kept. What do I still lack?’” (Matthew 19:20). What is going on here? Is the man too confident of his own obedience, goodness, and deserving? Or is he, perhaps, really that obedient? And if so, is he nevertheless deeply aware of something still wrong?
Either way, “Jesus said to him, ‘If you would be perfect,’”—that is to say, if you would be complete, and whole, and mature, and have the integrity of human being which God intends for you—“‘go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me’” (Matthew 19:21). And with this, the good doctor has come to diagnose precisely this young man’s deadly disease: he loved his possessions more than he loved God his Creator or his poor neighbor. For years I had thought that the problem identified here was a violation of the tenth commandment, conspicuously omitted from the earlier list of commandments required to enter life, maybe saved for this very moment. But that commandment is against coveting anything that belongs to one’s neighbor. And while maybe there is some of that going on here, if this man wanted to add more and more to his possessions, the real problem identified here is with what he already owned, as stated in the next verse. So the violation exposed here is not merely of the tenth commandment, as important as that is. The violation exposed here is also, and even more so, of the very first and therefore singularly important commandment, “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). And that violation, of course, inevitably leads to, and exhibits itself as, additional violations including greed and covetousness.
Today’s Bible reading tells us again that the greatest, the deepest, the most important, the most profound human need that we have is to be in right relationship with God. There are many other important things about human life, good and useful in and of themselves, but none of them is as important as this one. And we get into trouble when those things take priority over this one. Part of what we are told again and again is that our deepest needs are not physical, not food or clothing or shelter, as important as these are. Our deepest needs are not emotional, not friends and family, as important as these are. Our deepest needs are not psychological, social, political, economic, financial, national, military, or anything else. Our deepest need is to be in right relationship with God. He made us for this. This is what human life is all about. And without this, nothing else counts for anything.
Again, Jesus said to the man, “Go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.” This answer to his third and final question brought the cost of eternal life into unmistakable and undeniable clarity. “When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions” (Matthew 19:22). Now we see why Jesus waited, why he worked up to this point ever so slowly. If he had told the man flat out that he was worshipping his own worldly belongings instead of worshipping the Lord his God, the young man probably would have dismissed that out of hand. But with this careful series of questions, Jesus led the young man to realize for himself the fearful and horrible error of his ways, leading not to eternal life in the presence of God but to its opposite, eternal absence and estrangement from God. The Ten Commandments functioned as a mirror in which the man could, finally, see his faults. This is why our Lutheran friends, especially, include the Ten Commandments in their worship services before the prayer of confession, to make us realize our need for confession. And we Presbyterian agree that the commandments do that. I hope to return in a moment to why we include them after the pray of confession. As for now, the point is that the young man and we along with him are led to the realization that we cannot and certainly do not obey the Ten Commandments sufficiently to enter eternal life or, as we often put it, to earn our salvation. Even the disciples “were greatly astonished, saying, ‘Who then can be saved?’” (Matthew 19: 25). It seems that this was not a saving realization for the young man. Jesus explicitly invited and commanded him, “Come, follow me,” but instead the young man “went away sorrowful.” The question is sometimes asked as to whether he came back later. We are not told. But that is not the right question anyway. The real question being asked here is whether we turn, obey, and follow Jesus.

Explication: Only One Is Good

And at this point I want to return to a curious statement made earlier in the reading: “And he [Jesus] said to him [the man], ‘Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good.’” Yes, Jesus is directing our attention to God who alone is good. And yet, at the same time, we have already learned from Matthew that Jesus is “Immanuel,” which very name means “God with us” (Matthew 1:23). This is who Jesus is. And at least part of what this means in today’s reading is that Jesus is the human embodiment of God among us, that Jesus is the only one among us who is good, and particularly that Jesus is the only one among us who has kept all the commandments and so lives the eternal life. Jesus has kept the first table of the Ten Commandments, duty to God. Jesus has kept the second table of the Ten Commandments, duty to neighbor. Jesus has kept the Great Commandment, love of God and love of neighbor. Jesus has kept the civil law, obedience to the state. Jesus has kept the moral law, duty to neighbor. All of these continue, in which for us to join him and to go along with him. And what is more, Jesus has kept the ancient ceremonial law of worshipping God through sacrifice. His teaching here that only one is good points ahead ever so quietly to what no one then could yet know or understand but to what we are to know and to understand, that Jesus offered his life of perfect obedience to God, even up precisely to the point of loving God more than loving his own possessions, more than loving his own life and breath itself, sacrificing his life on the altar of his cross as the good, perfect, and complete sacrifice which finished and ended the whole system and history of ceremonial law. Jesus paid the terrible price for eternal life that he had identified for the young man, letting go of everything he had except his faith in God. Jesus is the only one among us who is good. Jesus has done for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Jesus has borne the punishment for our sin, and thereby he has won the forgiveness of our sin. And God his Father vindicated his sacrifice, raising him from the dead to new and eternal life, the very point of today’s reading. He is the one who is good.

Application: Come, Follow Me

And Jesus is, of course, the one who said to the young man and so to us, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Jesus invites us to have a new center, a new focus, a new orientation for this life. Jesus, the giver of God’s grace, invites us to find in him new meaning, purpose, value, and security. Jesus, the only one who is good. invites us to this wholeness, completeness, maturity, and integrity. No, we cannot do it on our own, but yes, we can do it with his help. No, we cannot earn our salvation, but yes, he earns it for us and gives it to us. No, we do not keep the commandments, but they still stand as God’s will for our lives, as the way he wants us to live, as the shape and content of the eternal life that we seek and that he has prepared for us. And that, as we mentioned earlier, is why we recite the Ten Commandments after the prayer of confession, after we acknowledge not only our failures but our disobedience, as we continue to seek God’s mercy and grace for the living of our lives. “With God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26).

To God be the glory forever and ever! Amen.

© Dr. James C. Goodloe IV, Covenant Pastor
Mattoax Pine Grove Presbyterian Church
14600 Chula Road, Amelia, VA 23002
15650 Genito Road, Amelia, VA 23002

08/30/2026

Let the Children Come to Me

Genesis 1:26–31; 2:18–25, Psalm 128:1–6, Matthew 19:1–15 (ESV)
August 30, 2026

"Now when Jesus had finished these sayings,” his previous teachings about sin and about the importance of our forgiving each other as God has forgiven us, “he went away from Galilee” in the north, where he had conducted almost all of his ministry of preaching, teaching, and healing, “and [he] entered the region of Judea” in the south, the land around the city of Jerusalem, and he went initially “beyond the Jordan,” to that part of Judea on the east side of the River Jordan (Matthew 19:1). It is striking that having twice foretold that he would suffer and die there in Jerusalem, Jesus now obediently and bravely journeys toward it. He knew, of course, that his life, ministry, death, and resurrection were all part of the will and plan of God for the salvation of his people. And it is astounding that he nevertheless trusted God as good, and accepted God’s will for him, and obeyed God’s will for him even when it included injustice, abandonment, and crucifixion. He went to Judea and eventually to Jerusalem for us. That is to say, Jesus leads and teaches us not only by his words but also by his example. So let us seek God’s will for our own lives, and let us try our best to obey God, even and especially when it is difficult for us to do so.
“And” remarkably enough, “large crowds followed him, and he healed them there” (Matthew 19:2). We do not know anything else about who these people were, what they knew or understood, or what they did not know or understand. We do know that they left whatever they were doing to be with Jesus, and that they sought from him the teaching and healing that none other could provide. Even they, whose names we do not know, are setting a good example for us. So let us join them and seek always to be with Jesus both to learn from him and also to receive from him the healing of our broken hearts, souls, bodies, and lives that no one else can give us.

Marriage and Divorce

By way of contrast, there are always some other people who do not want to be with Jesus except to cause trouble, who do not want to learn from Jesus but instead think they know better than he and so challenge his every word, and who do not want any healing he may provide since they certainly do not want to be saved by him. Lord, help us! “And Pharisees,” the ostensibly most religious people of the time, “came up to him [Jesus] and tested him by asking, ‘Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?’” (Matthew 19:3). There is no “Good morning!” There is no “How are you, sir?” There is no earnest question seeking learning or help, such as, “Teacher, marriage is so difficult! Can you possibly tell us anything to help us be better at it, to be good and faithful
and loving and supportive and joyful husbands to our wives?” No, there is simply hatred, cunning, and rejection. Even though they despise him, they pretend to want him to agree with them that they can leave their wives at any time for any reason, which is another way of saying for no good reason at all. Even better, if they could get him explicitly to disagree with them, which would involve him in speaking against the ancient and revered Law of Moses, maybe they could peel off a few thousand of those pesky followers and send them home disaffected and unbelieving. This was not going to be pretty.
Jesus did not take the bait. Instead, “He answered,” maybe shaking his head incredulously, “‘Have you not read that he [God] who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh”?’” (Matthew 19:4–5). Passing over the Law for the moment—he will return to that—Jesus reaches back centuries earlier to articulate and affirm God’s wonderful good will and plan in his very creation of human beings as male and female. He refuses to take up the matter of divorce until he has taught us again what God has said about the always prior reality of marriage. Jesus quotes passages from Genesis chapters one and two to establish not only that God created us male and female but also and especially that God did that precisely so that man and woman could marry and become no longer two but one flesh, a new reality that he intends to be permanent.
Note in particular that Jesus affirms the teaching in Genesis that God created humans male and female—and these two only, with no other in between or beyond these two, and with no switching from one to the other—God created humans male and female in order that a man should hold fast to his wife. Jesus did not affirm a man marrying a man. He did not affirm a woman marrying a woman. Instead, he explicitly affirmed that God created humans male and female in order for a man to marry a woman. There are vicious, lying liars in the world and even in the larger church today who tell us that Jesus had nothing to say about, or against, homosexuality, and thus they insist that he endorsed and condoned it. Nothing could be farther from the truth. This is shown clearly by his quotations from Genesis and his affirmations about marriage in today’s reading from Matthew. And just because the people of Israel had largely already held to those teachings for centuries before, Jesus may not have needed to say much to them about or against homosexuality. But in the Gentile world of ancient Greece and Rome, where homosexuality was practiced a great deal, his teaching about the exclusive marriage of men and women radically redefined their understanding of humanity, of proper human relationships, and especially of the status of women.
The first passage which Jesus quoted says more fully, “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. . . .’

So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.”
(Genesis 1:26, 27)

This threefold mention of God creating us in his own image, culminating in his creating us male and female, does not at all suggest that God is sexual, since “God is spirit” (John 4:24), and, as such, is not bodily. What this does tell us, instead, is that God is loving, relational, and faithful. Surely that he has created us in his image means at least that he has given us the capacity for love, sympathy, understanding, giving, sacrifice, and especially faithfulness. And surely these good and wonderful gifts form the basis of our marriage to each other. More than a matter of sexual pleasure, more than a matter of economic advantage, more than a matter binding together two families, and more than a matter of a government approved union, marriage is a physical and spiritual relationship created, ordered, and blessed by God. For that reason, we do not take it lightly. Instead, we surround its beginning in a wedding with Scripture readings, prayers, and vows.
So it is that Jesus concludes his answer about marriage by affirming yet again the second passage he quoted and even moving beyond it to formulate, in effect, a new commandment that we continue to quote in wedding services today: “So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” (Matthew 19:6). We might think that would have been the end of this exchange, but it was not.
Instead, the Pharisees, hoping not to be bested in a Bible-quoting contest, pushed back against Jesus with another question: “They said to him, ‘Why then did Moses command one [a man] to give a certificate of divorce and to send her [his wife] away?’” (Matthew 19:7). They should have stopped. They should have left it alone. But apparently they could not help themselves. So this time, having laid the foundation of marriage, Jesus turned and answered their question directly: “He said to them, ‘Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you [men] to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so’” (Matthew 19:8). Again, God’s original intent for at least most men and women—we shall get to that in a moment—was for marriage. Divorce was not part of that original intent. But, Jesus said, “Because” and only because “of your”—mens’s!—“hardness of heart”—your failure to live in the love, sympathy, and understanding for which you were created in God’s image, your selfishness and self-centeredness, in brief, your sin—“Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you [men] to divorce your wives.” Yes, that provision for men was in the law. And there was no such provision for women. But that provision was permission, not a commandment. It is not the rule. It is only an exception to the rule. And thus, while divorce may be understood in some way to be in agreement with God’s intent, it is only his secondary intent, an allowance for the terrible sinfulness that attacks and infects us all.
And then Jesus makes what may be the single most important statement in this entire reading: “Moses allowed you to divorce your wives. . . . And I [Jesus] say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.” (Matthew 19:8, 9). Not only has Jesus narrowed the grounds for divorce from broadly “any cause” to only one, very specific reason, and not only has Jesus changed the focus from that seeking divorce back to obeying the seventh of the Ten Commandments, against adultery, which the Pharisees of all people should have been upholding, but also and especially Jesus gave them and us his own teaching over and against what Moses had allowed, over and above what the Old Testament law said, a new statement of the very will and word of God. This is astounding. This is earthshattering. This is a revelation that Jesus is greater and more important than Moses. This is a revelation that the Gospel is greater and more important than the Law. This is a revelation that the New Testament is greater and more important than the Old. This is a revelation that Jesus is the Christ, that Jesus is the very Son of God, that God himself has come to us in the person and ministry of his Son, and that Jesus is our Lord and Savior. Thanks be to God! This must have rolled the Pharisees back on their heels. Hoping to expose him as a fraud, they gave him reason to tell us who he is. We do not hear another word from them for the next two and one-half chapters.
And we are left with this strange, new gospel, with its elevated commands for God-centeredness, righteousness, and obedience, and yet at the same time with its wonderful, gracious word of forgiveness when we fail to live up to that. There are offenses in our Christian marriages for which we very much need to be forgiven. There are offenses in our Christian marriages which we very much need to forgive. And even when our offenses rise to the level of the one exception for which Jesus allows divorce, it is significant that he does not require divorce. Just as the divine forgiveness which he worked for us on his cross is marvelous for us to behold, so also does our mutual human forgiveness growing out of his self-sacrifice at least sometimes rise to levels of incalculable wonder and beauty. And when marriages cannot be salvaged, surely all the rest of us are not to condemn but to forgive, comfort, love, and sustain. Lord, help us!

Singleness

Oddly enough, after the Pharisees had been silenced, the disciples themselves decided to enter the fray. “The disciples said to him [Jesus], ‘If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry’” (Matthew 19:10). We do not know quite what to make of this. Maybe they meant to be taking the high road. But it sounds like they were saying that if they could not divorce their wives at any time for any cause, as they had been taught growing up, they would just as soon never marry at all than to be caught in a permanent situation. If that is what they were saying, it most certainly is not commendable and is, in fact, sub-Christian. It is not a teaching for us to learn or an example for us to follow.
Whatever they meant, it does seem to be one more challenge to the teachings of Jesus about Christian love and relationships. And Jesus, maybe again shaking his head incredulously—his patience is divine!—he takes this as one more opportunity to talk about Christian life, this time the life of singleness, not as an escape, not as a convenience, but, for some only, as the fulfillment of the will and call of God on and for their lives. “But he said to them, ‘Not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it’” (Matthew 19:11–12). Some people, Jesus says, are born without the capacity for sexual relations. Other people have such capacity removed from them by the violent acts of other men. Such seems to have been a severe problem in the hard world of the Roman Empire. And still others have chosen not to engage in sexual relations, and they have done so for the sake of the kingdom of heaven, perhaps for the sake of ministry or missionary work. Jesus explicitly identifies this singleness as a gift from God—not to be sought by those to whom it is not given, and not to be rejected by those to whom it is given—Jesus explicitly identifies this singleness as a gift from God, which is to say that in addition to intended marriage and permitted divorce, singleness is a third way of Christian living to which at least some of us are called. It is not lost on us that Jesus himself received and obediently fulfilled such a calling to living in singleness.

Children

The hits keep coming. The Pharisees despised him. His own disciples failed to understand him. But at least the great crowds who followed Jesus and whom he healed seemed to continue to love him even all the more after these combative exchanges and hard teachings. “Then [their] children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray” (Matthew 19:13a). That seems good. But then, “The disciples rebuked the people” (Matthew 19:13b) who had brought their children to Jesus. That was awful. “But Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.’ And he laid his hands on them and went away” (Matthew 19:14–15). It is a fitting culmination of these teachings that Jesus welcomes the children to himself, acknowledges them as gifts from God, usually if not always within the context of the aforementioned marriages, elevates them to being citizens of the very kingdom of heaven, and personally blesses each one of them. I suspect that the people of Israel loved their children. But in the larger, pagan Roman Empire, that seems simply not to have been the case. In many ways, children were regarded as property, scarcely different from cattle. Parents could mistreat them and even dispose of them however they wished without any legal ramifications. But what Jesus taught about the value of each person and especially of children gradually changed the world for the better in ways that are difficult for us to realize today. And surely his invitation, “Let the little children come to me,” continues to speak against the horrible and increasing abuse of children in our own day. Surely his command, “Let the little children come to me,” condemns the horrid, evil, wicked, and barbaric practice of abortion in this nation and around the world today, clearly in violation of the sixth of the Ten Commandments, the one against murder. We cannot let the little children come to Jesus if we kill them before they are born, right up to the day and moment that they are to be born, even if various state laws and proposed amendments make it legal to do so in this newly, proud pagan nation. Sending them to meet their Maker prematurely does not count as our letting them come to Jesus. And I fear that our preventing them from coming to Jesus may prevent us from coming to him. This is deadly serious. Lord, help us!
In conclusion and in summary, Jesus ends each of his three main teachings in today’s reading with the same inviting and commanding verb. As for marriage, “What therefore God has joined together,” so that a man and his wife have become one flesh, “let not man separate.” As for singleness, “Let the one who is able to receive this” gift from God “receive it.” And as for the children, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them.” We would to well to embrace and obey these admonitions and encouragements in our own lives, families, church, and community in the fallen world in which we live today.

To God be the glory forever and ever! Amen.

© Dr. James C. Goodloe IV, Covenant Pastor
Mattoax Pine Grove Presbyterian Church
14600 Chula Road, Amelia, VA 23002
15650 Genito Road, Amelia, VA 23002

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