The Gospel of Mark 10:1-12
“And
standing 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. And 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?” And 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 for 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 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.”
And 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.”
After
speaking with His disciples, Jesus stood up and went from there to the
region of Judea and beyond the Jordan. Crowds began to gather around
Him, and he began to teach them as was His custom. We are not given what He was
teaching, but it would be safe to assume Jesus was teaching about the Kingdom
of Heaven.
We have come
to realize that Israel was under the wrong impression of what it meant to
follow Yahweh for they were burdened by the priests of their nation. These
priests had their notions on how a holy life must be lived. This text says that
“some Pharisees came up to Jesus, testing Him, and began to question Him
whether it was lawful for a man to divorce a wife.”
The
Pharisees and Sadducees had developed their own interpretations of Jewish law,
including divorce procedures. According to these interpretations, divorce was
permissible for various reasons, including adultery, neglect of domestic
duties, and even a wife’s failure to please her husband.
Jesus answered and said to them, “What did Moses command you?” He asked the question to show His respect for the law of Moses and to show that He came not to destroy it, and to engage them to a universal impartial respect for Moses’s writings and to compare one part of them with another. The teachers gave a fair account of Moses’ decree that, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.”
The full law
in Deuteronomy 24:1-4 is “If a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens
that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her,
and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and
sends her out from his house, and she goes out of his house and goes and
becomes another man’s wife, and if the latter husband turns against her
and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and
sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her to be
his wife, then her former husband who sent her away is not allowed to
take her again to be his wife since she has been defiled; for that is an
abomination before Yahweh, and you shall not bring sin on the land which Yahweh
your God gives you as an inheritance.
Divorce is a
serious matter and brings sin upon the land. Jesus rebutted them, “Because
of your hardness of heart he wrote for you this commandment.” The wicked
hearts of men if they could not get a divorce may have put them in a place to
murder to be free. For only by death is one free to marry another. But murder
is just as heinous as we know that even anger in your heart is murder, how much
did those who covenanted with Yahweh hate not only their wives but Yahweh as
well?
Jesus defends
his position on Marriage and divorce by quoting Genesis.” But from the
beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason, a man
shall leave his father and mother, 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.”
From the
beginning, God created and made mankind male and female. These are the only two
genders that God created and established the institution of marriage. Marriage
is defined by our creator, not by man. That a man and a woman would be married
and would separate from their parents and cleave to become one flesh.
I describe cleaving like this; Take two pieces of iron and heat them so that when they are together, they become one piece of metal. To tear this one piece of metal apart would require great force and when apart each piece would still contain parts of the other. This is what divorce does.
1. it disregards Yahweh and His covenant
with mankind to “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue
it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky
and over every living thing that creeps on the earth.” Genesis 1:28
2. It tears apart the family unit and
injures not just the two who were married, but all those who are around them,
especially any children they might have. Some people may gain emotional scars.
After he had
debated with the Pharisees Jesus and His disciples went back to the house and
asked Him about divorce again. I am certain they wanted a clearer understanding
because Jesus had just challenged the notions of the Pharisees. 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.”
Matthew
fills us in on more that was said, “that everyone who divorces his wife,
except for the reason of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery; and
whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.” Mark’s Gospel includes
women in the initiation of divorce. Either way Jesus’ teachings on divorce,
emphasized the importance of preserving marriage and the sanctity of the union and
that divorce should only occur when a husband or wife had committed adultery.
Let’s pause
for a moment and reflect on this. Why does this pertain to you as one who cares
not for the things of God? Marriage is a covenant, and, in the beginning, God
made a covenant with Mankind, Adam. Adam and Eve had committed adultery by
engaging in the deception of the Serpent in the Garden and through this act of rebellion
all of mankind was separated from God and banished from the Garden. Yahweh sent
Adam and Eve out. But God is compassionate, and He forgave them through the
shedding of blood. This blood, the blood of Jesus unites us back to God through
this new covenant in Christ.
Jesus came
to save sinners. Sinners suppress the truth and hide in their darkness because
they love darkness. They are unbelieving, vile, foolish, rebellious, haters of
God who have adopted the ideologies of this world and the doctrines of men.
They have become slaves to their sexual desires, perverting the flesh and mind,
and rebelling against the created order of God. They are doomed to condemnation
and will be judged by Jesus and sent to Hell where they will burn for eternity
in the lake of fire.
However, God
so loved His creation, mankind, that He sent His Son Jesus, who can forgive you
of your sins and redeem you because He has the authority and power. Jesus
brings eternal life to all who repent and believe. For Jesus bore all our sins;
He bore all the sins of all who believe in Him. Jesus was born and lived a
perfect life of obedience to God as a man. Jesus was condemned to be executed
and die in the sinner's place. He suffered the totality of God's wrath upon
Himself on the Cross, which every sinner deserves, so that those who believe in
Jesus may have peace with God.
Jesus rose from the dead, conquering death, and lives, and ascended to the right hand of God the Father. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and He is in your midst with us offering you salvation, repent, and believe Jesus.
Comments
Post a Comment