The Gospel of Matthew

The Man of St Matthew

Chapter 19: Overview

With the conclusion of the discourse, Jesus in 19,1 finally leaves Galilee.
"Judea across the Jordan" is very vague, especially as Judea did not extend across the Jordan. The point is that Jesus is heading southwards and his future ministry will now be in Judea.

In 19,15, we are just told that Jesus continues on his way. Jerusalem itself is not mentioned until 20,17 and the arrival on the Mount of Olives comes at the beginning of chapter 21.
The second half of chapter 20, from 20,17, is therefore about the approach to Jerusalem, here Matthew is following Mark closely (Mk 10,32-52). More on that when we come to the next chapter.

Tracking the audience from 19,1-20,16 shows that 20,1-16 is a continuation of chapter 19.

Jesus' first audience in the chapter are the Pharisees (19,3-9).
Jesus' reply to them is followed by a response from the disciples and their reply from Jesus (19,10-12). The response to the disciples continues with the teaching about little children, which is linked to it by "then" (19,13-15).

19,16 begins "And behold" and a new arrival on the scene, the "someone" who turns out to be young (19,20) and wealthy (19,22).
Once again this is followed by a dialogue between Jesus and the disciples (19,23). There is no change in audience stated at 20,1 so that the parable of 20,1-16 is addressed to the disciples. The importance of this we will consider when we read the next chapter.

In addition to changes of audience, Matthew has provided some significant brackets.

Our first bracket would be the movement of Jesus given in 19,1 and 19,15 even though the latter is simply "he went on his away". This confirms that 19,1-15 is one passage, the issue of divorce which leads into a teaching for the disciples.

Both 19,16 and 19,29 speak of gaining or inheriting eternal life. This therefore puts a bracket around the encounter of Jesus with the rich young man which again becomes a teaching for the disciples. Hence 19,16-19,29 can be read as the next passage.

Finally, the phrase in 19,30 is repeated in 20,16 and so forms a bracket around the parable. We will therefore read this verse as part of the next chapter.

We can therefore read chapter 19 in two halves:

With that in mind, we are ready to return to the main page and then begin our read through the chapter.