So here we are again and it's another Sunday where we find the Pharisees trying to trip Jesus up with a question about divorce – as much of a prickly issue theological argument then as it is a sensitive issue now. This was (and still is) one ‘the’ big sex-related controversies: and it was no different in Jesus time thanks to a division between supporters of the two differing rabbinic camps led by rabbis Hillel and Shammai (who we will meet shortly).
I don’t think we can look at the Mark passage without consulting Matthew, for together they form a key to Jesus’ words. Not only that but we need to consider divorce in Deuteronomy 24.1-4 to get an understanding of the context of divorce.
In our Gospel reading Mark reports the Pharisees as asking: “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” Matthew reports the same encounter with the Pharisees with them posing the question as, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?
Now it’s important that when we look to the Bible for answers we look for consensus and consistency, this way we don’t cherry pick the words we want to have that support our views (we call this ‘proof texting’).
A bill of divorce doesn’t end a marriage but permits remarriage. If a couple who were married dissolved that marriage then neither would be able to remarry because to do so would mean that they were in (as an Elim colleague used to say) ‘a perpetual state of adultery’. Marriage was supposed to be for life, but as Jesus is reported as saying in both the Matthew and Mark readings, “Moses gave a bill of divorce because people’s hearts were hard.”
An engagement ring doesn’t make a couple, but recognises that there is a couple. It is something that follows the act of relationship. A marriage doesn’t just happen – you can’t just walk up to a stranger and marry them – the marriage is a recognition that the relationship is already there: It affirms what already is. So too with a bill of divorce. It doesn’t end a marriage but recognises that the marriage has ended and spiritually and legally (but rarely emotionally) severs the ties and permits remarriage. It’s like resetting the odometer on a car!
But of course resetting the odometer changes the mileage but the age and condition and other factors regarding it are still in existence.
So the first point to make a note of is: Divorce doesn’t end a marriage but recognises that the marriage is ended and removing the impediment to remarriage that is adultery, permits remarriage.
In Deuteronomy 24.1-4, we find that a man who marries a woman who ‘becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her’, can give her a certificate of divorce and send her away! A practical solution from Moses for a contentious and divisive situation. For if a man sent his wife away then she could not return to her family and she could not enter into a relationship that God would bless as the relationship would be adulterous. The bill of divorce removed the religious objections and ensured that her living by immoral means, or dying through neglect and starvation, were removed at a stroke. Harmony (of sorts) in the community.
Then in walk two rabbis with their interpretations of the whole issue. Shammai held that divorce was only permitted for serious breaches of the marital relationship (like adulterous) whilst Hillel was a little more liberal and said that there had to be a reason, any reason – like they were old, ugly, fat, could cook, and the like – and these two views divided the population into two distinct camps.
This is the context in which Jesus is being tested on by the Pharisees question. Which camp will he offend? Obviously, within the context of Moses and the lawful side, it is ‘lawful’ to divorce and yet Jesus wants to deal with the heart rather than the law for this is what the real issue is. He’s not looking to support one camp or the other but to get to the universal issue regarding divorce.
Marriage was for life, but this changed because of the hardness of our hearts. Because people separated, Moses had to find a way of maintaining the community and keep the people right before God.without finding a religious way of permitting remarriage then those who did it would be religiously unclean and face being stoned too! This is where our Genesis passage comes in with the making of a companion for Adam and the two becoming one flesh. The beginning of a life-long commitment. The way it should be and yet in today’s society, the way it is no longer. This is a reality in and amongst our fallen and self-governing world.
The reason for divorce under Moses’ authorship is adultery. But Jesus is pointing at the people before Him with the law to support Him and make them uncomfortable.divorce recognises the breach that has occurred and responds to permit remarriage. But for those who divorced to marry another, then adultery was not the cause but the result!
There was a practice amongst some where they divorced and remarried and then divorcing the new wife would simply remarry the former wife. This meant they could play away from home without the sin of adultery being a reality thanks to clever use of the legal. But reading the Deuteronomy passage below you’ll see that remarriage to a previously divorced partner is not permitted! How uncomfortable must Jesus has made this Pharisees!!!
Jesus goes on to make sure that no one is left in any doubt that the regulations regarding divorce and remarriage apply equally to men and women. Divorce is there to permit serious reasons for the marriage to permit remarriage, nothing else.
Now some say that divorce must result in a single (and therefore celibate) life because they take the Gospel readings out of context and quite often ignore completely the Deuteronomy reading altogether. To this I can but point to Deuteronomy four and our Genesis passage and make the observation that it is not good for us to be alone! And add the cherry: “Those whom God has joined together, let no one separate.”
Today’s issue is so big that whilst the Genesis passage underpins the divorce discussion it would be easy to miss the Hebrews passage and yet there is an important point to be taken from it as we consider divorce in the context of being right with, and before, God. The same Jesus who speaks to the Pharisees, who sees past the law into the heart, is that same person spoken of in the Hebrews passage. Let us never lose sight of who Jesus is and what He did for us on the cross and does in us by His Holy Spirit in our daily lives.
Let us keep the laws and walk to His heartbeat in love, fidelity, compassion and forgiveness.
Genesis 2.18-24
The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.
But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.”
That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.
Hebrews 1.1-4; 2.5-12
In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.
It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. But there is a place where someone has testified:
“What is mankind that you are mindful of them, a son of man that you care for him? You made them a little lower than the angels; you crowned them with glory and honour and put everything under their feet.” In putting everything under them, God left nothing that is not subject to them. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them. But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honour because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. He says,
“I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters; in the assembly I will sing your praises.”
Mark 10.2-16
Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”
“What did Moses command you?” he replied.
They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.”
“It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,” Jesus replied. “But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. He answered, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”
People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.
Post Communion Prayer
Holy and blessed God, you have fed us with the body and blood of your Son and filled us with your Holy Spirit: may we honour you, not only with our lips but in lives dedicated to the service of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Collect
Faithful Lord, whose steadfast love never ceases and whose mercies never come to an end: grant us the grace to trust you and to receive the gifts of your love, new every morning, in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Matthew 19
When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went into the region of Judea to the other side of the Jordan. Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.
Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”
“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
“Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”
Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”
The disciples said to him, “If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.”
Deuteronomy 24.1-4
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.
