Lessons On Divorce And Love For Children

JESUS and his disciples are on their way to Jerusalem to attend the Passover of 33 C.E. They cross the Jordan River and take the route through the district of Perea. Jesus was in Perea a few weeks earlier, but then he was summoned to Judea because his friend Lazarus was sick. While then in Perea, Jesus spoke to the Pharisees about divorce, and now they bring the matter up again.

Among the Pharisees there are different schools of thought about divorce. Moses said that a woman could be divorced because of "something indecent on her part." Some believe that this refers only to unchastity. But others consider "somethings indecent" to include very minor offenses. So, to test Jesus, the Pharisees ask: "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife on every sort of ground?" They are confident that whatever Jesus says will involve him in difficulty with the Pharisees who hold a different view.

Jesus handles the question masterfully, not appealing to any human opinion , but referring back to the original design of marriage. "Did you not read," he asks, "that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and his mother and will stick to his wife, and the two will be one flesh?' So that they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has yoked together let no man put apart."

God's original purpose, Jesus shows, is that marriage mates stick together, that they not get a divorce. If that is so, the Pharisees respond, "why, then, did Moses prescribe giving a certificate of dismissal and divorcing her?" Moses, out of regard for your hardheartedness, made the concession to you of divorcing your wives," Jesus answers, but such has not been the case from the beginning." Yes, when God established the true standard for marriage in the garden of Eden, he made no provision for divorce.

Next time: Conclusion of Lessons On Divorce And Love For Children

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