Getting up, He
went from there to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan; crowds gathered
around Him again, and, according to His custom, He once more began to teach
them. Some Pharisees came up to Jesus, testing Him, and began to question Him
whether it was lawful for a man to divorce a wife. And He answered and said to
them, "What did Moses command you?” They said, "Moses permitted a man
to write a certificate of divorce and send her away." But Jesus said to
them, "Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment.
But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female. For this
reason a man shall leave his father and mother, and be joined to his wife, and
the two shall become one flesh’; so they are no longer two, but one flesh. What
therefore God has joined together, let no man separate." In the house the
disciples began questioning Him about this again. And He said to them,
"Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery
against her; and if she herself divorces her husband and marries another man,
she is committing adultery."
As far as moral practice goes, this is one of the
toughest teachings of Jesus. Jesus
traveled to Judea, in southern Israel, closer to the heart of Judaism. In the days of Jesus, there was a debate
between Jewish scholars what the original intention of Moses was in his divorce
command. Some of the Jewish teachers
held that divorce should only be given for the sake of adultery. Another group held that a divorce could be
given for any reason, according to Moses’ law, because Moses did not make any
limitations for causes of divorce. The
Pharisees came to Jesus and asked him to give an opinion in this debate. In Mark, Jesus gives an extreme
position. He said that Moses was wrong
to allow them to divorce at all! Jesus
points out that before the law of divorce under Moses, God created marriage,
causing two people to be one entity, or a new family. Jesus then reasons that since God had created
the unity, then that union is indivisible.
Therefore, Jesus says, a human does not have the right to divide what
God had put together. Jesus says, then,
that divorce is always breaking God’s intention of union. Jesus explains this matter further with the
disciples, speaking not only of divorce, but also of remarriage. Divorce, Jesus says, usually is followed by
marriage to another person. But the
handing of a piece of paper to another does not dissolve the commitment of
unity between a man and a woman.
Therefore, Jesus says, that remarriage after divorce is the same as
adultery. To have sex with one who has
already been married is adultery. Since
the marriage is unbroken by the piece of paper, any remarriage is therefore
adultery, because the original couple is still married. This passage in Mark is connected to a set of
teachings about how to treat “weaker” believers. The message seems to be that divorce is one
of those situations which would cause destruction to a “little one” in Jesus. Matthew agrees in Matthew 5:32.
There
are a number of implications here, that are not openly discussed: a.
Are partners equal in marriage?
In the Jewish culture of Jesus’ day, women could not give men divorce
papers—but Jesus said that this was possible, (which, in Gentile culture, they
could) although it was leading to adultery.
Also Jesus indicated that a man who cheated on his wife was committing
adultery, even though many Jewish teachers held that only a woman could commit
adultery, not a man. Jesus holds both
partners equally responsible to their commitment to marriage. b. What about if your partner commits
adultery first? Jesus does not
answer that question here, but he does in Matthew 19. Adultery breaks the marriage, so the contract
of unity is no longer binding. Although
if an adulterous spouse repents, the follower of Jesus must forgive them and
take them back (Luke 17:3-4), if the adultery continues, then the believer is
free to walk away from the marriage and get remarried.
c. What about marriages between pagans—are they joined by God? Jesus does not mention this issue, but Paul
seems to think of this as a separate issue from what Jesus spoke about. (I Corinthians 7:12-16). Paul seems to say there that two unbelievers
who are married do not have a commitment of union before God. However, Paul says, in order to bring one’s
spouse to the Lord, the marriage must be committed to. But if the unbeliever wants to dissolve the
marriage, then the marriage may be dissolved, and the believer may remarry.
One final note is that Jesus, as he does with all his teaching on the law, is simply applying the rule of love to marriage and divorce. Almost all marriages in Jesus' day were initiated by men, and the women had to suffer through terrible consequences, possibly including exclusion from society, homelessness, separation from their children and more. Jesus is not so much trying to create a new law to replace the old one, but trying to bring mercy to a heartless discussion.
It is so easy to look at this or that command in the Bible and to say, "Well, it's what the Bible says. We just need to obey it." It is interesting that Jesus never did this. He always put mercy and care into his discussions of the hardest of laws.
Jesus often would make a law more strict... but sometimes love is very strict, very tough. If I was a person who hurt others because of my drinking, I might think that it was harsh to stop drinking, but that is what love would require of me. If I was a person whose porn habit was hurting my wife, it might seem strict to give up my porn, but that's what love would require. Love is just as often strict as it is freeing.
Let us remain under the discipline of love, doing whatever mercy and compassion requires, no matter how difficult.
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