THE WORD 4 ev 1

Good morning everyone. Just wanted to apologize for the late postings. Our internet is out at the house so I have to wait until I get to the office to post the devotional. I hope to have this problem resolved soon.

Today's reading is Mark 10 (click here for link)

Today, Jesus teaches on marriage and divorce. This is always a prickly issue.

In the Old Testament, Moses had allowed for divorce. In Deuteronomy 24:1-5 the law stated:

If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, and if after she leaves his house she becomes the wife of another man, and her second husband dislikes her and writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, or if he dies, then her first husband, who divorced her, is not allowed to marry her again after she has been defiled. That would be detestable in the eyes of the LORD. Do not bring sin upon the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance. If a man has recently married, he must not be sent to war or have any other duty laid on him. For one year he is to be free to stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married.

This clause, was not meant to give license to sin. Divorce was never seen as ideal or a good thing. In fact, few would say that divorce is ever “good.” It brings hardship and pain no matter how inevitable it may sometimes be. In Deuteronomy, God allowing an option for divorce was meant to provide a means of living as holy of a life as possible even in sinful situations. In Jesus’ day, there were two prevailing interpretations of this passage. The first interpretation emphasized the clause: “…because he finds something indecent about her…”. The second interpretation emphasized the preceding clause, stating that divorce was acceptable if a wife should ever “displease” her husband in any way—even if it was burning his supper.

The Pharisees pose this devious question as an attempt to trap Jesus. However, as conservatives themselves, many of the Pharisees probably agreed with the first interpretation. But they were hoping to get Jesus in trouble with Herod, whom John the Baptist had denounced for unlawful marriage to his brother’s wife(Mark 6:17-18).

Jesus clearly sides with the more conservative interpretation of Deuteronomy 24:1-5. In the Matthew parallel, he qualifies exactly what “indecent” behavior is, adultery and abandonment (if we also consider Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 7:10-15). Yet Jesus grounds his authority not in a law taught by Moses, he instead refers back to the very first marriage. He grounds the authority of marriage in God’s original intention that man and woman live as one flesh. For man to put asunder what God has joined together is blatant sin. Thus the bonds of marriage go well beyond what any courts may decree. This indeed makes divorce a prickly issue!

Sadly, divorce is sometimes inevitable. Marriage bonds are made in sinful world and we know that the “wages of sin is death.” Sin brings death to everything it touches and sometimes this may mean the bonds of love and trust between a husband and wife. While marriage bonds may sometimes fail in this sinful world, on union we must never put asunder is the union of our sin to Jesus Christ on the cross. God has given each man and woman complete reconciliation through his son. Through this “marriage, God has Christ’s righteousness to our sinfulness. We are righteous in God’s eyes even though we still may sin and even though our marriage may fail.

Living as a reconciled child of God in this sinful world is not easy, just as living out Christian love and forgiveness is never easy in the midst of a divorce. However, Jesus warns here in Mark as the scriptures do elsewhere, that in this world even the most basic social institutions may fail, yet even despite the pain and brokenness of this world, there is mercy for sinners. However, his gracious mercy should never obscure the fact that in all things, loving and faithful relationships between husband and wife should be cherished and cultivated. In fact, it the ideals of marriage that best reveal to us the relationship we have to Christ (Ephesians 5:22-33). We are joined to Christ forever. His love and his faithfulness will sustain us!

What God has joined together, let no man put asunder.

Pastor Aaron