Big Idea: Matthew illustrates the inversion of status in God’s kingdom by narrating Jesus’ protection of women in his teaching on divorce, his valuing of children, and his stringent call to a rich man who would follow him.

Understanding the Text

Following Jesus’ fourth major teaching block (chap. 18), Matthew provides his usual formula to transition to a narrative section (19:1; also 7:28–29; 11:1; 13:53; 26:1). Themes accentuated in the previous discourse are illustrated narratively in 19:1–26. The disciples’ concern for status categories is conspicuous in their treatment of children (19:13–15; cf. 18:1–5) and their assumptions about marriage (19:10) and about the status of the wealthy before God (19:16–26). Although the disciples and Jesus have been focal characters in the narrative si…