What God Has Joined, and the Children
1 He arose from there and came into the borders of Judea and beyond the Jordan. Multitudes came together to him again. As he usually did, he was again teaching them. 2 Pharisees came to him testing him, and asked him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” 3 He answered, “What did Moses command you?” 4 They said, “Moses allowed a certificate of divorce to be written, and to divorce her.” 5 But Jesus said to them, “For your hardness of heart, he wrote you this commandment. 6 But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female. 7 For this cause a man will leave his father and mother, and will join to his wife, 8 and the two will become one flesh, so that they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.” 10 In the house, his disciples asked him again about the same matter. 11 He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. 12 If a woman herself divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.” 13 They were bringing to him little children, that he should touch them, but the disciples rebuked those who were bringing them. 14 But when Jesus saw it, he was moved with indignation and said to them, “Allow the little children to come to me! Don’t forbid them, for God’s Kingdom belongs to such as these. 15 Most certainly I tell you, whoever will not receive God’s Kingdom like a little child, he will in no way enter into it.” 16 He took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them. 17 As he was going out into the way, one ran to him, knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” 18 Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except one—God. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not give false testimony,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and mother.’” 20 He said to him, “Teacher, I have observed all these things from my youth.” 21 Jesus looking at him loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack. Go, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me, taking up the cross.” 22 But his face fell at that saying, and he went away sorrowful, for he was one who had great possessions. 23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it is for those who have riches to enter into God’s Kingdom!” 24 The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus answered again, “Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter into God’s Kingdom! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter into God’s Kingdom.” 26 They were exceedingly astonished, saying to him, “Then who can be saved?” 27 Jesus, looking at them, said, “With men it is impossible, but not with God, for all things are possible with God.” 28 Peter began to tell him, “Behold, we have left all and have followed you.” 29 Jesus said, “Most certainly I tell you, there is no one who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or land, for my sake, and for the sake of the Good News, 30 but he will receive one hundred times more now in this time: houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and land, with persecutions; and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
Marriage answered from creation, the kingdom received like a child, and a rich man loved and let walk away — with the needle's eye left as God's problem to solve.
6 But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female. 7 For this cause a man will leave his father and mother, and will join to his wife, 8 and the two will become one flesh, so that they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”
Asked a test question about divorce law, Jesus moves the discussion from Moses' concession to creation's design. The certificate of divorce Deuteronomy 24:1 was written for your hardness of heart Mark 10:5 — damage-limitation inside a fallen world, not the institution's charter. The charter is Eden: one flesh, joined by God Genesis 1:27 Genesis 2:24, and the joining is his act, which is what puts the separating beyond human competence. The private explanation levels the ground both directions — the man's divorce and the woman's alike Mark 10:11–12 — adultery against her being the phrase that gives the wronged wife a standing older law never stated.
But when Jesus saw it, he was moved with indignation and said to them, “Allow the little children to come to me! Don’t forbid them, for God’s Kingdom belongs to such as these.
The disciples screen the unimportant away and earn Jesus' indignation — Mark's strong word. The children are not blessed for innocence; they are the kingdom's model recipients because they can only receive: no achievements to plead, no fee to offer, hands simply open Mark 10:15. He takes them in his arms Mark 10:16 — the second time in two chapters Mark 9:36 — and the scene stands as the standing rebuke to every barrier the church has ever set at its own door.
Jesus looking at him loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack. Go, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me, taking up the cross.”
The rich man arrives running and kneeling, earnest and clean-living — I have observed all these things from my youth Mark 10:20 — and receives the book's only recorded look of love before its costliest prescription: sell, give, come, follow. The one thing lacking is revealed by the asking: a treasure that owns him. He goes away sorrowful Mark 10:22 — the Gospel's one sad ending to a call, and Jesus lets him go; love does not chase with a discount.
25 It is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter into God’s Kingdom.” 26 They were exceedingly astonished, saying to him, “Then who can be saved?” 27 Jesus, looking at them, said, “With men it is impossible, but not with God, for all things are possible with God.”
The image means what it says — the largest local animal, the smallest household aperture — and the disciples' shock (then who can be saved?) hears it correctly, since their world read wealth as God's favor. The answer refuses to shrink the camel or widen the needle: impossible with men, possible with God — salvation at every income level being his act, not the candidate's squeeze. Peter's ledger (we have left all) is honored with the hundredfold promise — family and houses multiplied in the community of faith, with persecutions Mark 10:29–30, Mark's honest clause for Rome — and capped by the kingdom's recurring inversion: many who are first will be last, and the last first Mark 10:31.
settled What this mark means