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marriage to remember this. Marriage is not only a time of great joy, but great
responsibility too and this must never be forgotten.
As regards remarriage after divorce, Christ allows remarriage of the innocent party,
but not of the guilty one (Luke 16: 18). Modern divorce laws do not square with His
teaching and believers must decide whether they are going to follow man-made
conceptions and rules.
There follows then the account of the Lord blessing little children. Such were brought
to Christ "for Him to place His hands on them and pray for them" (Matt. 19: 13). There
can be no doubt that the Lord loved young children and this is shown by the fact that, as
Mark states, He was indignant when the disciples rebuked those who brought them to
Himself (Mark 10: 14). Matthew's account reads:
"Jesus said, `Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the
kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these'. When He had placed His hands on them,
He went on from there" (Matt. 19: 14, 15, N.I.V.).
"Stop hindering them", such is the force of me with the present imperative. Christ had
already stressed the child-like attitude of mind of those who were concerned to enter the
kingdom of heaven (18: 3).
The Evangelist now relates His encounter with the rich young man who asked Him,
"Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?" (19: 16, N.I.V.). In the account
of Mark and Luke the word `inherit' is used by the young man. The Lord's answer, after
correcting his idea of being "good", was "If you want to enter life, obey the
commandments" (17). The young man was able to say after the Lord had specified what
He meant by "commandments", "all these I have kept". Some have thought that this was
very boastful, but the Lord did not correct him, because it was evidently true. After
making this reply, Mark tells us that, "Jesus beholding him, loved him and said, `one
thing thou lackest . . . . .'.". The Lord certainly would not have loved him had he been
telling lies. There was yet something he must do in order to enter into life.
We have seen in the earlier chapters of Matthew that one of the key-words is enter--
those who can enter the kingdom and those who are shut out. It is very important to
recognize that, in the Synoptic Gospels, entering into life and entering the kingdom are
parallel. It is the life in the great Messianic kingdom, and the conditions are laid down
for believers, not unbelievers, and are an explanation of reward for faithful service for
those already saved. Hence the continual stress on works and not faith alone.
The same truth is emphasized to the lawyer who asked a question similar to that put
by the young man, "Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?". The Lord
immediately refers him to the law of Moses--"What is written in the law?" (Luke 10: 25,
26). The lawyer quotes from the ten commandments and Christ's reply is "Thou hast
answered right: this do and thou shalt live" (28).