Mateus 19

BLIVRE · Chapter 19/28

1E aconteceu que, quando Jesus acabou essas palavras, partiu da Galileia, e veio para a região da Judeia, além do Jordão.

2E muitas multidões o seguiram, e ele os curou ali.

3Então os fariseus se aproximaram dele e, provando-o, perguntaram-lhe: É lícito ao homem se divorciar da sua mulher por qualquer causa?

4Porém ele lhes respondeu: Não tendes lido que aquele que [os] fez no princípio, macho e fêmea os fez,

5e disse: Portanto o homem deixará pai e mãe, e se unirá a sua mulher, e os dois serão uma única carne?

6Assim eles já não são mais dois, mas sim uma única carne; portanto, o que Deus juntou, o ser humano não separe.

7Eles lhe disseram: Por que, pois, Moisés mandou [lhe] dar carta de separação, e divorciar-se dela?

8[Jesus] lhes disse: Por causa da dureza dos vossos corações Moisés vos permitiu divorciardes de vossas mulheres; mas no princípio não foi assim.

9Porém eu vos digo que qualquer um que se divorciar de sua mulher, a não ser por causa de pecado sexual, e se casar com outra, adultera; e o que se casar com a divorciada [também] adultera.

10Os seus discípulos lhe disseram: Se assim é a condição do homem com a mulher, não convém se casar.

11Porém ele lhes disse: Nem todos recebem esta palavra, a não ser aqueles a quem é dado;

12Pois há castrados que nasceram assim do ventre da mãe; e há castrados que foram castrados pelos homens; e há castrados que castraram a si mesmos por causa do Reino dos céus. Quem pode receber [isto] ,receba.

13Então lhe trouxeram crianças, para que pusesse as mãos sobre elas e orasse, mas os discípulos os repreendiam.

14Mas Jesus disse: Deixai as crianças, e não as impeçais de vir a mim, porque delas é o Reino dos céus.

15Ele pôs as mãos sobre elas, e depois partiu-se dali.

16E eis que alguém se aproximou, e perguntou-lhe: “Bom Mestre, que bem farei para eu ter a vida eterna?”

17E ele lhe disse: “Por que me chamas bom? Ninguém há bom, a não ser um: Deus. Porém, se queres entrar na vida, guarda os mandamentos.”

18Perguntou-lhe ele: “Quais?” E Jesus respondeu: “Não cometerás homicídio, não adulterarás, não furtarás, não darás falso testemunho;

19honra ao teu pai e à [tua] mãe; e amarás ao teu próximo como a ti mesmo.”

20O rapaz lhe disse: “Tenho guardado tudo isso desde a minha juventude. Que me falta ainda?”

21Disse-lhe Jesus: “Se queres ser completo, vai, vende o que tens, e dá aos pobres. Assim terás um tesouro no céu. Então vem, segue-me.”

22Mas quando o rapaz ouviu essa palavra, foi embora triste, porque tinha muitos bens.

23Jesus, então, disse aos seus discípulos: “Em verdade vos digo que dificilmente um rico entrará no reino dos céus.

24Aliás, eu vos digo que é mais fácil um camelo passar pela abertura de uma agulha do que o rico entrar no reino de Deus.”

25Quando os seus discípulos ouviram [isso] , espantaram-se muito, e disseram: “Quem, pois, pode se salvar?”

26Jesus olhou [para eles] ,e lhes respondeu: Para os seres humanos, isto é impossível; mas para Deus tudo é possível.

27Então Pedro se pôs a falar, e lhe perguntou: Eis que deixamos tudo, e te seguimos; o que, pois, conseguiremos ter?

28E Jesus lhes disse: Em verdade vos digo que vós que me seguistes, na regeneração, quando o Filho do homem se sentar no trono de sua glória, vós também vos sentareis sobre doze tronos, para julgar as doze tribos de Israel.

29E qualquer um que houver deixado casas, ou irmãos, ou irmãs, ou pai, ou mãe, ou mulher, ou filhos, ou terras por causa do meu nome, receberá cem vezes tanto, e herdará a vida eterna.

30Porém muitos primeiros serão últimos; e últimos, primeiros.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Jesus teaches about marriage and divorce, blesses the children brought to him, and a rich young man walks away sad upon hearing that he should sell all he has to follow him, prompting Jesus to comment on how hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God.

Explanation

The question about divorce was a live debate among rabbinic schools of the time, which disagreed over which grounds justified a man divorcing his wife; Jesus goes beyond the law of Moses and points back to God's original design at creation, a lasting union between a man and a woman. The episode with the children again shows Jesus valuing those society regarded as unimportant, correcting his own disciples who tried to keep them away. The rich young man illustrates how wealth can become a silent obstacle to total surrender to God, even when a person otherwise appears morally upright. Jesus's reply — that with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible — keeps the story from becoming a simple condemnation of wealth, pointing instead to the need for divine grace for anyone's salvation.

Fun facts

  • The expression 'a camel through the eye of a needle' is often misunderstood; some try to soften it by linking it to a supposed narrow gate in Jerusalem, but there is no historical evidence for such a gate — it is a deliberate exaggeration, a device common in Jesus's teaching style.
  • The term 'eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake' refers to people who choose to live without marriage in order to devote themselves entirely to spiritual mission, a theme the apostle Paul later takes up in his letters.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Mateus 19:1Closes the fourth great discourse in the Gospel, on community and forgiveness, and marks Jesus’ final departure from Galilee toward Judea — the start of the final journey that ends in Jerusalem.
  2. Mateus 19:2Large crowds following Jesus even outside Galilee show that His fame had already spread to other regions of Jewish territory.
  3. Mateus 19:3At the time, there were two rival rabbinic schools debating this exact point: one said a husband could only divorce for infidelity, the other said any reason was enough. The Pharisees are trying to get Jesus to pick a side in a dispute that already existed among themselves.
  4. Mateus 19:4Jesus answers by citing the account of creation in Genesis, pointing to God’s original design — man and woman created from the beginning — even before addressing the specific question of divorce.
  5. Mateus 19:5Continues the quote from Genesis, this time about marriage forming a new unit (‘one flesh’), an argument Jesus uses to question how casually divorce was treated at the time.
  6. Mateus 19:6Jesus’ conclusion, that what God has joined together man should not separate, shifts the focus of the discussion from when divorce is permitted to the original intention of permanence in marriage.
  7. Mateus 19:7The ‘writing of divorcement’ was a formal document required by the law of Moses so that a man separating from his wife would put in writing that she was free to remarry — a legal protection for her, not an easy permission for him. Jesus answers that this law was a concession to people’s reality, not the original plan for how marriage was meant to work.
  8. Mateus 19:8Jesus explains that Moses’ permission for divorce was a practical concession to the hardness of the human heart, not God’s original ideal — a distinction between permissive law and initial design.
  9. Mateus 19:9The exception for ‘fornication’ was one of the most debated points among the rabbinic schools of the time — Jesus takes a more restrictive position than the common debate over valid grounds for divorce.
  10. Mateus 19:10The disciples’ reaction, that it would be better not to marry at all, shows how radical and demanding the standard Jesus presents sounded by the customs of the time.
  11. Mateus 19:11Jesus acknowledges that the proposal that follows, about giving up marriage, isn’t for everyone — it’s a specific calling, not a universal rule.
  12. Mateus 19:12Jesus speaks figuratively about people who choose to give up marriage to devote themselves entirely to their mission, not about literal mutilation. It’s a jarring comparison drawn on purpose, using a real condition of the time — there were eunuchs from birth and eunuchs made so by others, usually to serve in royal courts — to describe a voluntary choice.
  13. Mateus 19:13The disciples rebuke those bringing the children, probably because they saw them as unimportant enough to take up a teacher’s time — an attitude Jesus corrects directly in the next verse.
  14. Mateus 19:14Jesus reverses the disciples’ attitude, directly linking children to the kingdom of heaven — an echo of the teaching already given in chapter 18 about humility and status.
  15. Mateus 19:15Laying on of hands was a common gesture of blessing in Jewish culture — Jesus performs this simple act before continuing on His journey, without making a bigger spectacle of it.
  16. Mateus 19:16Calling Jesus ‘Good Master’ was a polite title, but the question ‘what good thing shall I do’ reveals a mindset of earning eternal life through specific actions, something Jesus is about to challenge in the conversation that follows.
  17. Mateus 19:17Jesus questions the use of the word ‘good’ applied to Himself before reserving that title for God alone — an answer that also sets up the test of sincerity that follows, about keeping the commandments.
  18. Mateus 19:18The commandments Jesus cites come from the second part of the Ten Commandments, the ones dealing with relationships between people, not the direct relationship with God.
  19. Mateus 19:19Ends the list of commandments with ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,’ from Leviticus — the same principle Jesus had already called central elsewhere in the Gospel.
  20. Mateus 19:20The young man’s claim to have already kept all these since his youth, while still asking what he lacks, suggests an awareness that obeying the law, by itself, hadn’t given him the certainty he was looking for.
  21. Mateus 19:21‘If thou wilt be perfect’ proposes a step beyond simple obedience to the commandments: giving up his own wealth reveals where the young man’s true priority actually lay.
  22. Mateus 19:22The young man’s wealth, which seemed like a sign of blessing by the common thinking of the time, turns out to be the very obstacle keeping him from accepting Jesus’ invitation.
  23. Mateus 19:23Jesus generalizes the specific episode of the rich young man into a broader statement about how hard it is for wealth and entry into the kingdom to go together — an idea that contradicted the common view that prosperity was a sign of divine approval.
  24. Mateus 19:24There’s no historical evidence of a ‘narrow gate called the needle’ in Jerusalem, as is sometimes told to soften the phrase — that’s a later legend, with no basis in the ancient texts. The comparison is literal and deliberately impossible: the largest common animal in the region trying to pass through the smallest possible hole.
  25. Mateus 19:25The disciples’ surprised reaction reflects exactly this common mindset of the time, that wealth was seen as a blessing and a spiritual advantage, not an obstacle.
  26. Mateus 19:26Jesus’ answer shifts the possibility of salvation from human effort to God’s action — even what seems impossible, including the salvation of someone rich and attached to possessions, is within God’s reach.
  27. Mateus 19:27Peter contrasts the disciples’ own group, who gave up everything, with the rich young man who has just walked away sad — a direct question about what reward to expect for that choice.
  28. Mateus 19:28‘Regeneration’ describes the final renewal of all things expected at the end of the age — the promise of thrones for the twelve disciples to judge the tribes of Israel ties that future reward directly to the faithfulness shown now.
  29. Mateus 19:29The promise of receiving ‘an hundredfold’ in return for giving up family and possessions for Jesus’ sake contrasts directly with the rich young man at the start of the chapter, who couldn’t make that same trade.
  30. Mateus 19:30‘First’ and ‘last’ refer to the expected social order — whoever had more status, wealth, or time spent in religious devotion was seen as ‘first’ in line. Jesus says that order is about to be scrambled, and the parable that comes right after, about the workers in the vineyard, is the example He gives to explain the statement.

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