Jesus Talks about Divorce
Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz
Mark 10:1-12
Mark 10:1 aGetting up, He *went from there to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan; crowds *gathered around Him again, and, baccording to His custom, He once more began to teach them. Some Pharisees came up to Jesus, testing Him, and began to question Him whether it was lawful for a man to 1divorce a wife. 3 And He answered and said to them, "What did Moses command you?" 4 They said, "aMoses permitted a man TO WRITE A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE AND 1SEND her AWAY." 5 But Jesus said to them, "1aBecause of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. 6 "But afrom the beginning of creation, God bMADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE. 7 "aFOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER1, 8 aAND 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." In the house the disciples began questioning Him about this again. 11 And He *said to them, "aWhoever 1divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her; 12 and aif she herself 1divorces her husband and marries another man, she is committing adultery."
Verses one through nine was a debate between Jesus and the Pharisees about divorce. The people who followed Hillel (a sage who lived about 70 years before Jesus) believed that divorce should exist for just about any reason. This situation favored men and was a detriment to women. Jesus consistently demonstrated his concern for the disenfranchised. Women were the largest segment of the disenfranchised. When her husband divorced, her world was shattered. Hillel made it easy to divorce. Jesus disagreed with that view. Jesus was on the side of Shammai (a rival sage who lived during the time of Hillel), who believed that a divorce required strict adherence to the Torah.
In the United States and other countries, divorce has become no-fault. There are fancy legal words used for no-fault, but the bottom line is that we know have a no-fault divorce option. How do we deal with a culture that wants an easy divorce when Jesus was against it. I am not taking any stand for or against the way divorce occurs in the US today. I do pray that the couples that I united in marriage will stay married.
On the other hand, life is too short to be miserable. If a marriage is not working and cannot be reconciled, then why continue it? Divorce releases the two people from the difficulties of living together, and each can decide what their next step in life will be. A marriage covenant should be respected, and everything possible should be done to save it. Unfortunately, some marriages will not continue even after all of the attempts to bandage it. A divorce may become the only way to cure the marriage. Divorce should be used as a last resort.
This passage has been and used by several church denominations to condemn divorce. Unfortunately, this is done today. Some church clergy and leaders read the passage and take it literally. This usage of the passage is an example of the Greek thinking method failing to understand a Semitic document. Jesus was stating His opinion about divorce. However, there is an escape clause. Jesus knew situations in which the best way to cure a marriage problem is through a divorce. There are times when the wife and husband cannot reconcile their differences. Unfortunately, some time that difference is an abuse of one kind or another. So, the divorce escape clause is in this passage. Church denominations who exclude people from worshiping the LORD or becoming church members because they have gone through a divorce need to read this passage using Hebraic Bible study Methods to discover the interpretation of the passage by the people in Jesus's day.
Let me repeat that in Jesus' day, divorce was allowed if one believed in the House of Hillel. The view from this house of study comes close to what is believed by many people today. Some people think divorce for any reason other than in the Scripture is sinful. A real problem today is that people like to judge the people of the past using their values and customs. People in the United States are good at this. A recent example is the US government tried nation-building in Afghanistan for twenty years. It was a complete failure. Why? Because the people who live in that country do not have the same values, ethics, and morality that exist in the US.
Let me give you another example of this. When the Treaty of Versailles was created to end World War I, the nations of the Near East were created. The Otterman Empire had broken apart. Western European and US diplomats created the borders. They did not take into account that Near Eastern people had a different view of life. For example, the nation of Iraq consists of the descendants of the Medes who live in the north. The center of the country is the descendants of the Babylonians. In the south are the descendants of the Persians. These three groups have formed alliances and have fought each other ever since the beginning of their society. The utter stupidity of the western European and US diplomats forced them into a country. One hundred plus years have passed, and people in the US wonder why this country is so unstable. Duh.
It is wrong to project our current culture and values on people in the past or even in other world areas. We may not like how other nations treat their citizens. History has proven that insisting that every nation follow one culture does not work!
That being said, let us examine divorce. This issue was huge in the church several decades ago. For some churches, one cannot become a member if the person was divorced or married a person who was divorced. The person was allowed to come to the church worship and encouraged to give the church money. Nevertheless, the person cannot be a member. That is a problem in itself and gives the church a black eye.
We cannot project our customs and values on the people in Jesus' time. The building of families was a top priority. The custom of the value of women was that they produced children and kept the household running. They did the labor required to raise children, cooking food, washing clothes, and more. The men worked a trade or were a laborer to earn money for the family's survival. A married couple's obligation was to produce children. Death rates were high between birth complications, disease, and war. Therefore, making babies was a top priority. Finding a marriage partner through love took too long. Once a girl reached puberty, she could start having children. The younger the mother was, the better her chance of surviving childbirth. In our eyes, they had children raising children. That is what happened.
Arranged marriages were a necessity for the survival of any nation. Women had a role to play in society, and men played a role. Do not condemn them for that. Divorce was to be avoided so that families would continue to produce children and strengthen the nation through its population.
Our society is different from what it was in ancient times. Our culture is to respect women and men as valuable individuals who have the right to self-determination. Therefore, divorce should be a personal issue between a husband and wife. No church should condemn a divorced individual. Period. This issue is not the canonization of the Bible. Instead, I am talking about projecting current values into the past. This practice is wrong when dealing with the past; it is also wrong to do today. Does it not matter what the new movement of thought and behavior? It is wrong to impose it on people who do not want it.
I do not want to expand into that topic more than I have already. Unfortunately, today people get more than emotionally angry when they disagree with others about culture, values, and morality. I want to leave you with the bottom line that respect for all people is what Jesus spoke of the most. Loving your neighbor means respecting their views. Do not impose your believe on others. Respect your neighbor's beliefs, and prayerfully your neighbors will respect yours.
Show your neighbors by example what it means to be a pious disciples of Jesus Christ through your words and actions.
