Stay Married

Mark 10:10-12 When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about divorce. 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.”
 
Matthew adds this to the disciples’ remarks:
 
Matthew 19:10 The disciples said to him, “If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.”
 
DO you think Jesus is realistic? It seems the disciples were wondering, “Why do you speak so harshly against divorce?”
   To their point, divorce was common in Israel as it has been common throughout world history. If remarriage made one guilty of adultery, this was a capital crime! From the disciples’ view it’s easy to understand why they said, “It is better not to marry.” How do we understand Jesus’ words?
   It helps us to know divorce came into the world just as murder, theft and idolatry came. People turned from God and fixed their eyes on themselves and their own desires. Jesus’ commands are aimed at the world view that people too casually divorce to satisfy sensual pleasures and selfish desires. Marriage becomes as a used car no longer suitable for our purposes. Instead of tender care to restore and make new, we are quick to walk away and “trade it” for something of perceived higher value. Jesus taught that a convenient, casual view of marriage is as an adulterer who rejects his/her God-ordained holy relationship for immediate pleasure.
   This teaching may have also disturbed the disciples because Jesus gave women equal standing with men. The Romans understood women had rights, but the Jews did not. When he taught that a man who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her Jesus elevated women to the same status as men. Men had the privilege of divorce, often taking any property the woman had brought into the marriage. In God’s view any man or woman who initiated a divorce of convenience was worthy of death.
   This is always a hard teaching, seldom confronted in the church. Many of you are divorced for appropriate reasons. You have remarried and have godly relationships. Is this appropriate in God’s will?
   It is if you are following the gospel’s power to heal and redeem. If we allow the past to control today, we will find no satisfaction in God’s redemptive Spirit. Live now and toward the future in his Word. Set your marriage as an example of Jesus’ lifeblood for your family and the church