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19:3-12 (Then)
The Pharisees approached him, tempting him and saying. “Is it lawful for someone to dismiss his
wife for any cause? And he answering said. "Did you not
read that the one who created them made them male and female from the
beginning?" He said “Because of
this a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall cleave to his
wife and the two will become one flesh so that they are no longer two but
one flesh. What therefore God has
yoked together, let man not separate."
They say to him. “Why then did Moses allow someone to give a
document of divorce and to dismiss their wife?” He says to them. "Moses did so because of your
hardness of
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heart. But from the beginning it has not been
so. I say to you that whoever
dismisses his wife except for fornication and marries another commits
adultery." The disciples say to
him. “If such is the situation
between a man and his wife it is not expedient to marry.” And he said to them. "Not all people grasp this
saying. But to those to whom it has
been given. For there are some
eunuchs who are born like this from their mother’s womb. And there are eunuchs who were made so by
men. And there are eunuchs who made
themselves so on account of the kingdom of the heavens. The
one who is able to grasp this let such a one do so."
(Note:
Text is mainly a paraphrase of the Literal translation in the RSV
Interlinear Greek-English New Testament, 1988)
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While one is grappling
with the meaning of someone who makes themselves a eunuch on account of the
kingdom of the heavens, this challenge is followed by the introduction of
children. Again a link is made
between those in the age group of children, and those who might be
described as the ‘adult child’.
Also one can wonder if
the "eunuchs" Jesus speaks here of are Essene monks at Qumran and elsewhere.
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