The gospel text for last week was Mark 10:2-16, which tells
the story of some Pharisees coming to Jesus and asking him how he viewed the
law on divorce. There were two schools
of thought back then; the first school believed that a man could only divorce
his wife in the case of adultery. The other
school was much more relaxed and felt that a man could divorce his wife for any
reason. Because of the latter school of thought,
Moses listed in the law, in the book of Deuteronomy (cf. Deut. 24:1-4), that a
man could issue his wife a certificate of divorce and divorce her. The certificate was to certify that the woman
hadn’t committed adultery and could be remarried.
Now, when the Pharisees asked Jesus what his interpretation
of the law was (after all, Pharisees love to debate the meaning and intent of
God’s law!), Jesus gave a radical answer in saying, “Because of your hardness
of heart [Moses] wrote this commandment for you,” (Mar. 10:5b). Then Jesus goes on to teach them and the
disciples about how God created marriage to be a good gift and that the
hardness of human hearts had twisted it and turned it into something hurtful. Does this statement from Jesus mean that he
abhors anyone who has been divorced?
It is my opinion that the answer to this question is
no. I don’t think Jesus was speaking
about divorce itself, but rather the way a man could be free to divorce his
wife for any reason, even if he didn’t like the way she looked. Women couldn’t divorce their husbands if they
didn’t like their husbands, for women were considered property. Only men held the power to divorce, and Moses’
law made it easy for a man to divorce his wife for any reason.
But what about verses 10-12, when the disciples ask Jesus
for further interpretation? Most New
Testament scholars believe that these two verses were not original to Mark’s
gospel but a later addition. This means
that a scribe, at a later time, decided to add in his own interpretation to
Mark’s story. So, in my opinion, verses
10-12 are a human interpretation added later to try and make it more clear what
Jesus was teaching. This happens
frequently in the gospels, especially with the more difficult teachings of
Jesus.
So what is Jesus saying about divorce? Well, if we go back to Genesis 2, we know
that God created Adam and that Adam wanted a companion. God brought Adam every creature that had been
created, but none of them were a suitable companion for him. Because of this, God placed Adam in a deep
sleep and then God performed surgery and made woman out of a pair of Adam’s
ribs. God did this so that Adam would
have a companion to love and journey through life with. Out of love, God gave Adam a companion.
The original intent of God was that we humans would come together and be companions to each other; that two people could join in union together and start a family together. However, because we live in a broken world where evil and sin pervert God’s good creation (which includes us!), divorce happens and relationships become broken. So, when Jesus references Genesis 2 in verses 6-9 he is stating the original intent of marriage and human relationships. Now, with this statement he is not condemning those who have gotten divorce, and he is not telling them that there is no place in God’s Kingdom for people who have been divorced. He is just naming the reality that broken relationships happen due to evil and sin which causes human hearts to harden.
So where’s the good news?
Well, the good news is that, through his death and resurrection, Christ Jesus
has reconciled the world. Christ has
destroyed the influence of evil and sin over us and has freed us to live in
love and faith. Christ did this because
Christ Jesus knows the pain of broken relationships. He knows the hurt that can happen when a
marriage reaches the place of divorce.
Christ died to reconcile relationships, mainly our relationship with God
which was broken since Adam, but also so that we would be freed to reconcile our
own relationships. This means that,
while broken relationships and divorce will still happen, Christ has freed us
to try and mend relationships, to act with forgiveness, and to form new
relationships when previous relationships break and cannot be mended. In other words, when divorce happens, Christ Jesus
gives us forgiveness, healing, and others so that we can move on from the
broken relationship. Jesus gives us
forgiveness so that we can know that God still loves us even though our
marriage has ended. Jesus gives us
healing so that we can come to understand that we aren’t defined by our broken
relationship, but that our true identity is still—beloved child of God. Jesus surrounds us with others so that we can
still find companionship. That
companionship may not result in another marriage (although it could), but it
will mean that Christ will surround us with family, friends, neighbors, and our
faith community to help us continue on in the journey so that we don’t have to
walk through life alone.
So how should the church treat divorce? Well, since Christ Jesus brings forgiveness, healing,
and others to those who have divorced or have suffered from a broken
relationship, we, the church, the Body of Christ, should also treat those who
have divorced with forgiveness, healing, and surround them with love. Divorce is a realty of our fallen world, yet
God gave us each other so that we could have companionship throughout
life. That companionship is a gift of
God’s love to us and for us. To deny
anyone that gift because they are divorced is to continue perverting God’s good
creation and to act with hardened hearts.
See you in the conversation,
Pastor Zach 
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