CONSEQUENCES OF SIN
Opening Prayer
Come, Holy Spirit, and soften my heart. I am here before you, ready to listen.
Read MARK 10:1–12
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Divorce
10 Jesus then left that place and went into the region of Judea and across the Jordan. Again crowds of people came to him, and as was his custom, he taught them.
2 Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”
3 “What did Moses command you?” he replied.
4 They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.”
5 “It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,” Jesus replied. 6 “But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’[a] 7 ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife,[b] 8 and the two will become one flesh.’[c] So they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
10 When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. 11 He answered, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. 12 And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”
Footnotes
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
‘God of grace and God of glory, / on your people pour your power … Grant us wisdom, grant us courage / for the facing of this hour.’1
It is not easy to write on this passage, but today I must unpack what Jesus said. In the Mosaic Law, a man could divorce his wife.2 There was no provision for a woman to divorce her husband but, under Graeco-Roman law, women could. Why the Pharisees thought to trick Jesus with this question is unclear. Perhaps they thought that Jesus, known for his radical reinterpretations of Scripture, might fall into the trap of setting aside the Law. Jesus, of course, knew what they schemed and got them to quote the Law. Going back to the beginning of Scripture, Jesus showed that God’s ideal for marriage was a life-long union between a man and a woman, so binding that to break the bond was to commit adultery.
Jesus said divorce law was a response to human sin, as indeed is all law. In a non-ideal world, people’s sins are an abuse of God-given free will and therefore always a departure from God’s ideal for our behavior. However, society needs to manage the consequences of human sin. Jesus was not saying that a battered woman and her abused children must remain in a marriage, enduring psychological or physical violence to avoid divorce. He was saying that because of sin, in my example the sin of domestic violence, there was room for divorce. There is a significant principle at play here. God’s ideals are not always achievable in a sinful and fallen world. I am part of this world and I know I certainly do not achieve God’s ideals. Modern law struggles to deal with this. We are all physically and spiritually damaged. Society must make decisions that are far from perfect, but take into account our fallenness, our inability now to attain God’s ideal.
Apply
We cannot always achieve God’s ideal; there is forgiveness. If we ask, God will help us make the best decisions we can in this fallen world.
Closing prayer
Father, I lift up before you Christian marriages where partners are struggling with one another. Protect what you have joined together; provide what is needed for healing and reconciliation.
1 Harry Emerson Fosdick, 1878 – 1969 2 Deut 24:1
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