Chapter Ten
Mk. 10:1. Having departed from there, He comes into the borders of Judea beyond the Jordan. Again the multitude gathers to Him, and as was His custom, He again taught them.
Mk. 10:2. The Pharisees came up and asked, testing Him: is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?
Mk. 10:3. He said to them in answer: What did Moses command you?
Mk. 10:4. They said: Moses permitted to write a certificate of divorce and to divorce.
Mk. 10:5. Jesus said to them in answer: because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment.
Mk. 10:6. But from the beginning of creation, God "made them male and female" (Gen. 1:27).
Mk. 10:7. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother
Mk. 10:8. and shall cleave to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh; so that they are no longer two, but one flesh.
Mk. 10:9. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. The Lord often left Judea because of the hatred of the Pharisees toward Him. But now He comes again to Judea, because the time of His suffering was drawing near. However, He does not go directly to Jerusalem, but first only "to the borders of Judea," in order to benefit the guileless people; whereas Jerusalem, due to the wickedness of the Jews, was the center of all malice. And see how they, out of their malice, tempt the Lord, not tolerating that the people should believe in Him, but constantly approaching Him with the intention of putting Him in difficulty and cornering Him with their questions. They pose to Him a question that placed Him between two abysses: is it lawful, they say, for a man to divorce his wife? For whether He says that it is lawful, or says that it is unlawful, in either case they thought to accuse Him of contradicting the Law of Moses. But Christ, Self-Existent Wisdom, answers them in such a way that He escapes their snares. He asks them: what did Moses command them? And when they answered that Moses commanded to divorce a wife, Christ explained to them the Law itself. Moses, He says, was not so merciless as to give such a Law, but he wrote this because of your hardness of heart. Knowing the inhumanity of the Jews, such that a husband who did not love his wife could easily kill her, Moses permitted a husband to divorce an unloved wife. But from the beginning it was not so: God joins two persons in the bond of marriage so that they become one, even leaving their own parents. Note that the Lord says: God does not permit polygamy, so that one wife could be divorced and another taken, and then that one abandoned and another married. If this had been pleasing to God, He would have created one husband and many wives; but it did not happen so, rather "God made them male and female," so that they would be joined — one husband with one wife. In a figurative sense, this can be understood as follows: the word of Teaching, sowing good seeds in the soul of a believing person, has the significance of a husband to the soul that receives it. And it leaves its father, that is, lofty thought, and its mother, that is, embellished speech, and cleaves to its wife, that is, to the benefit of the soul, adapting itself to it and often preferring humble thoughts and simple speech. And then they both become one flesh, that is, the soul believes that "the Word of God became flesh," and no human thought can any longer separate the soul from such faith.
Mk. 10:10. In the house His disciples again asked Him about the same thing.
Mk. 10:11. He said to them: Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her;
Mk. 10:12. And if a wife divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery. Since the disciples too were troubled (regarding the divorce of husband and wife), they also approach Him and ask about the same thing. Their way of thinking was not yet completely sound. The Lord answered them: whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery with this second wife; likewise a wife who has left her husband and joined with another becomes an adulteress.
Mk. 10:13. They brought children to Him, that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked those who brought them.
Mk. 10:14. But when Jesus saw it, He was indignant and said to them: Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them, for of such is the Kingdom of God.
Mk. 10:15–16. Truly I say to you: whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God as a child shall not enter into it. And having embraced them, He laid His hands on them and blessed them. Great was the faith among the people, when they accepted the mere laying on of hands by Christ as a blessing for the children brought to Him, while the disciples would not allow those bringing them, thinking this was unworthy of Him. What then does Christ do? Teaching the disciples to be humble-minded and to reject worldly pride, He receives and embraces the children. By this He shows that He accepts the innocent; therefore He also says: "for of such is the Kingdom of God." Note, He did not say "of these children is the Kingdom," but "of such," that is, of those who have acquired the same innocence that children possess by nature. For a child does not envy, does not remember wrongs, and when punished by its mother does not run from her, but even if she wore rags, would prefer her to a queen; so also one who lives virtuously prefers his mother — I mean the Church — to all things, and is not carried away by worldly pleasures. For this reason the Lord also embraces such ones, saying: "Come unto Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden" (Matt. 11:28), and blesses them, saying: "Come, you blessed of My Father" (Matt. 25:34). By the Kingdom of God He here means the preaching of the Gospel and the promise of future blessings. Therefore, whoever receives the Divine preaching as a child, that is, without any hesitation and admitting no unbelief in himself, shall enter into the Kingdom of God and inherit those blessings which he has already acquired by faith.
Mk. 10:17. When He was going out on the road, someone ran up, knelt before Him, and asked Him: Good Teacher! What must I do to inherit eternal life?
Mk. 10:18. Jesus said to him: Why do you call Me good? No one is good, except God alone.
Mk. 10:19. You know the commandments: do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and mother (Ex. 20:12–17).
Mk. 10:20. He said to Him in answer: Teacher! All these things I have kept from my youth.
Mk. 10:21. Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him: one thing you lack: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me, taking up the cross.
Mk. 10:22. But he, dismayed by this word, went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Some falsely portray this young man as a cunning and deceitful tempter. This is not so: he was merely a covetous man, not a tempter. For listen to what the Evangelist notes: "Jesus, looking at him, loved him." And why did Christ answer him thus: "No one is good"? Because he approached Christ as a mere man and as one of many teachers. Christ speaks as if to say: "If you consider Me good as a mere teacher, then in comparison with God no man is good; if you acknowledge Me as good as God, then why do you call Me merely a teacher?" By such words Christ wishes to convey a higher understanding of Himself, so that the man might recognize Him as God. Moreover, for the correction of the young man, the Lord also gives him another lesson: if he wishes to converse with someone, he should speak without flattery, and should know the one root and source of goodness to be God alone, and render Him due honor. However, I marvel at this young man in that, while all others came to Christ seeking healing from diseases, he himself asks about inheriting eternal life — if only he were not possessed by an even stronger passion of love of money. On account of this passion, having heard the Lord's words, "Go, sell... and give to the poor," he "went away sorrowful." Note here that the Lord did not say: sell what you have bit by bit and give it away, but sell it all at once and give it away, and only to the poor, not to flatterers and not to the debauched; then: "follow Me," that is, adopt every other virtue as well, for there are many who, though not covetous, are not humble, or though humble, are not sober, or have some other vice. Therefore the Lord does not say merely "sell and give to the poor," but "come, follow Me, taking up the cross," which means to be ready to die for His sake. "But he, being dismayed at this saying, went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions." It is not without reason that it is added that he had much: for to possess even a little is both harmful and dangerous, but the bonds of many possessions are utterly unbreakable. But let him who is young in spirit, frivolous, inattentive in thought, and disordered in mind, likewise sell his possessions, such as anger and desire, with all that springs from them, and give them, cast them to the demons, who are poor, deprived of every good and wealth, because they fell away from the goodness of God, and then let him follow Christ, for only he can follow Christ who has rejected the wealth of sins, which is the property of demons. "Turn away from evil," it is said: this means to cast the sinful wealth to the poor, that is, to the demonic powers; "and do good": which means to follow Christ and take up His Cross (Ps. 33:15).
Mk. 10:23. And, looking around, Jesus says to His disciples: how hard it is for those who have riches to enter the Kingdom of God!
Mk. 10:24. The disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus again speaks to them in answer: Children! How hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the Kingdom of God!
Mk. 10:25. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God.