“1 Getting up, He went from there to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan; crowds gathered around Him again, and, according to His custom, He once more began to teach them. 2 Some Pharisees came up to Jesus, testing Him, and began to question Him whether it was lawful for a man to divorce a wife. 3 And He answered and said to them, “What did Moses command you?” 4 They said, “Moses permitted a man TO WRITE A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE AND SEND her AWAY.” 5 But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. 6 “But from the beginning of creation, God MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE. 7 “FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER, 8 AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH; so they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 “What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.” 10 In the house the disciples began questioning Him about this again. 11 And He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her; 12 and if she herself divorces her husband and marries another man, she is committing adultery.” MK 10

It does not take a PhD in Theology to understand that Jesus is teaching a very strict standard for marriage, divorce, and remarriage. Jesus’ teaching is rooted in the very founding of the family at the beginning of creation in Genesis 1 and 2. While the Pharisees look for loopholes, Jesus denies them any satisfaction. For many who are married and divorced, if they marry again they are living in sin even if men say they are lawfully married.

Instead of ignoring this hard teaching, we must be teaching it for the sake of young people so they will be more careful with their choice of life partner and will work harder to keep their marriages together.

I say this with love Dan

Categories: consequences, marriage