PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Matthew 19
What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage?
“Those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 19:12)
The disciples find Jesus’s teaching on faithful love too difficult.
They suggest that singleness would be better than getting married.
But why does Jesus bring up eunuchs, men born or made ‘sex-less’ (castrati)?
In a time of arranged marriages, this was the likely reason for singleness.
Being a eunuch, single or divorced was not God’s plan “from the beginning”.
But creation is fallen; we fall short of God’s original design in many ways.
Jesus comes to restore God’s fallen world, but He does this by gracious love.
He recognizes that divorced, single and ‘sex-less’ people can serve God too.
Jesus is being controversial in mentioning eunuchs.
Moses’s Law did not allow them to serve as priests (Deuteronomy 23:1ff).
They were looked down on as sexual deviants… but not by Jesus.
He understood that they were born that way, or made that way.
He made room in the kingdom for those who did not fit creation’s design.
Once again we are urged to see people through eyes of love, not law.
God graciously welcomes people who fall short to serve Him in the kingdom!
Lord Jesus, You know how far we all fall short of God’s original creation design. You know the hardness of our hearts and our lives. Yet You graciously welcome us to love and serve You in our brokenness. May we show the same gracious love to others.