Divorce & More in Mark 10

Mark 10:2-12

And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" He answered them, "What did Moses command you?" They said, "Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away." And 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.' 'Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast 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 not man separate."

And in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. And he said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.

Some backdrop to this passage: Jewish law did not permit women to divorce their husbands but husbands were permitted to divorce their wives. Not only this but men could divorce their wives for anything they wanted in some Rabbi's teachings. The Roman law of the time allowed women to divorce their husbands. So when the Pharisees ask this question to Jesus it's very possible that they are not merely asking if it is morally permissible to divorce, for the answer was obviously "yes" since if he said no he'd be denying the Mosaic law, but rather asking if only men are allowed to initiate divorce. In other words, does Jesus side with the liberal and unbiblical Roman law of Herod or the Jewish law and Moses? Does Jesus permit men to divorce like the great prophet Moses or does he agree with the great oppressor of the Jews and say women may also divorce their husbands?

This is the context of the test given by the Pharisees (and make no mistake, it is indeed a test. It is a trap). Jesus answers that man and woman, being two, are made one in marriage according to Genesis (which precedes the Mosaic Law). While the Pharisees are concerned with Moses as their validation, a way to say "This is what scripture teaches, this is the what Yahweh's team looks like", Jesus points to something even earlier in scripture. He points to the beginning of mankind and marriage in Genesis. By doing this he shows the Pharisees that 1) their elitist foundation is faulty and 2) they don't even understand the issue of marriage and divorce. In this response of "they are no longer two but one flesh" Jesus is basically asking what difference it makes who is initiating the divorce since the two are one (no longer divided but one working unit). Since God has made them one it would be wrong foreither to initiate divorce. The issue of whether or not women can divorce their spouse as men do is irrelevant because neither party is separate from the other and should not seek to be separated from the other. This is a big part of why marrying another would be adultery.

Jesus informs us here that the Mosaic law, or at least this part of the law concerning divorce, was given merely because men (be it actually males or mankind) had hard hearts which were unable to accept the way of God. This way of life that the Pharisees have clung to is not God's ideal or even what he originally intended for man. What he originally intended for mankind is spelled out by Jesus here in the passage when he references Genesis. Now that God has come to us in the incarnate Jesus we are able to see this truth. The question is now what type of hearts we will have. Will we have hard hearts that ask for and live by a law which causes squabbles, division, and a lack of searching for the ideal of God or will we have soft hearts that are willing to live in the ideal for humanity held by God. A soft heart does not need a law because it is in tune with the big picture of God because it is pure and it is understand of God's will. A soft heart is a vulnerable heart and vulnerable hearts exist only in trusting relationships.

Jesus challenges us to think biblically. Sometimes we think we're being biblical but we're not. We may be using scripture but we're not being used by God. Instead of being ruled by scripture we rule by means of scripture and abuse the words of God. We ask questions about right and wrong and in answering He asks us "What have I already said to you?" He brings us back to the big picture and the desire of God. He is constantly calling us to return to the Way of God, to be under the Reign of God. He is not giving a law but calling us back to a right understanding and right relationship with God and man. He's asking us to not be hard hearted people but to be soft hearted, living in his ideal, understanding what the work of God is and honoring it.