Marriage and Celibacy for The Kingdom of Heaven Matthew 19:1-12 Marriage and Celibate Life are Equal Graces of God to the Church Entrusted to Individual Members
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Date
2004
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Tangaza University College
Abstract
The research work that you are holding in your hands is a work that has taken an amount
of time to become what it is. After my Novitiate, that was 199/4, I was sent to live in one of the
outstations, and in this parish I learnt that people admired my life as a religious. At the time it did
not occur to my mind why people would have such an affirmative feeling. As time went on and I
moved from one place to another, this feeling grew strong so that I started to ask myself what
would be the reason behind this admiration.
So in 1996, I went to philosophy and still I found that people in Zambia had the same
admiration for religious men and women. By then my curiosity grew strong, but I could not carry
out this research, since at the same time I wanted to make an investigation on who is a human
being. Therefore, such research remained a plan for the future. During my pastoral year, that was
1999-2000, 1 got time to talk to people about it and shared my wonder with the religious. I
discovered that it was not only lay people who admired religious life but the religious also on the
other hand, after some times in a congregation begin to admire the married status. This opened
up my mind and from the time I joined Tangaza College 2000-2001, I made up my mind to study
this kind of attitude and come up with an understanding.
This of course would have not been materialized if I did not get a further motivation. It
was during my second year that I decided to register myself in the biblical stream and my love
for scriptures was boosted up the more. And so, during the class on Matthew, Sr. Carmel Powell
gave a very impressive commentary on Matt 19:1-12. This I found so interesting that I decided
to take it as a principal text for my essay, since it fitted in well with my long awaited task.
In this research essay, I follow the biblical methodology of writing. We have three
chapters in this essay and each has an introduction and conclusion. In the first chapter, I present the context and the background of Matt 19:1-12. I set the delimitation of the text in question and
justify my taking it as a unity. After that, I get into the text itself and present the textual
criticism. Here I take B M Metzger as my principle authority, since I find his explanation more
convincing, furthermore, within the same chapter, I give some of my own understanding. I have
also dedicated a space for parallels of the text, both within Matthew and in larger context of
synoptic gospels.
The in the second chapter, I move into the exegetical work and some details of the text. I
suggest the structure of out text, which has three parts with their sub-headings. Here I take in
account every line of the text and give the necessary explanation, to understand the text and the
world in which the community of Matthew found itself After that follows the third chapter. In
this part of the essay I begin by giving theological message and its implications that need to be
applied in the daily life of the church. I also look into the historical meaning of the text in order
to set the foundation for my applications.
The remaining section of the essay deals with the application of the textual message for
marries life in the church bringing up the idea of marriage being a grace that is given to
individuals for the sake of the kingdom. Thus I show that there is no need for married people to
regret having been married, since it is a mission, given and willed by God. After that I look into
celibate life and make applications that are deduced from the textual implications. Here I bring
the idea that celibacy is not an alternative to married life but rather a life that is given to those
and only those who can take it. The essay then tries to go against the idea of taking religious life
as a mere job or career. Then I bring in the idea of living a happy religious life which witnesses
to the eschatological life, using the image of being at the banquet, which is an image that
Matthew uses. In winding up this chapter I dedicate a space for the challenges that need to be looked at
in celibate life and in marriage. I propose that celibate life should be Christ-centered rather than
centered on rules and customs. I conclude by challenging the idea of taking either celibate life or
married life as an end in itself. I suggest that both should be seen and understood as symbols and
instruments of the greater things that are in the plan of God, enveloped in the whole idea of the
Kingdom of Heaven
Before I present the definition of the terms that we are concerned with in this essay, I
wish to make a not that unless stipulated otherwise, all the biblical texts quoted will betaken
from the NAB, the translation found in the African Bible.
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Keywords
Marriage and Celibacy for, Kingdom of Heaven, Celibacy for The Kingdom of Heaven, Matthew 19:1-12, Church