Mark 10:1-16 - What else!?
22/1/23
Preach
Scripture
Questions
On Divorce
10 And from there he [Jesus] set out and came to the region of Judea and the other side of the Jordan, and again crowds came together to him. And again, as he was accustomed to do, he began to teach them. 2 And they asked him if it was permitted for a man to divorce his wife, in order to test him.
Judea, the other side of the Jordan, is likely “Bethany beyond the Jordan” where the Israelites entered the Promised Land and Jesus was baptized and Lazarus will be raised from the dead. Next, they will head to nearby Jerusalem [v32].
Why are the disciples asking question to test Jesus? Trace Jesus’ negative use “generation” [Mark 8:12, 8:38, 9:19] in this gospel1.
3 And he answered and said to them, “What did Moses command you?” 4 So they said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.”
This is from Deuteronomy 24:1-4 and is about divorce and remarriage. You could not after divorce and remarriage go back to your first spouse.
5 But Jesus said to them, “He wrote this commandment for you because of your hardness of heart.
Who is the law for [Galatians 3:19]?
6 But from the beginning of creation ‘he made them male and female. 7 Because of this a man will leave his father and mother and will be joined to his wife, 8 and the two will become one flesh,’ so that they are no longer two but one flesh. 9 Therefore what God has joined together, man must not separate.”
Where in “the story” is Jesus getting his teaching on marriage?
10 And in the house again the disciples began to ask him about this. 11 And he said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. 12 And if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”
So what is the Christian teaching on divorce and remarriage? Before trying to answer this go back to the Sermon on the Mount [Matthew 5-7] where Jesus first teaches about divorce.2
The disciples just could not accept this teaching. What else do you find hard to accept, i.e. live out, from Jesus’ teachings for his upside-down kingdom?
Little children brought to Jesus
13 And they were bringing young children to him so that he could touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. 14 But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant, and said to them, “Let the young children come to me. Do not forbid them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. 15 Truly I say to you, whoever does not welcome the kingdom of God like a young child will never enter into it.” 16 And after taking them into his arms, he blessed them, placing his hands on them.
What does Jesus teach about our attitude to children [Mark 9:33-42]?
What does it mean to “welcome the kingdom of God like a young child”?
Some MSS have the Pharisees asking this question. This softens the poor light Mark casts on the disciples at such a late stage who continue to think and behave like “this generation” [9:19]. Challenge! To what extent do we think and behave like the people around us? Are our minds being renewed [Romans 12:12]?
Jesus quotes from Genesis 1:27, 2:24 and 5:2. Humans were created male and female, in God’s image, and in marriage to become one. This is God’s ordinance and not to be broken. Divorce is a result of sin. Jesus’ imminent death, resurrection and ascension will restore the creation and rid it of the effects of sin. We are called to start living it NOW obeying Torah from the heart [see Matthew 5-7] NOT just as something to clean up the mess. Let me illustrate. The Torah provide punishments for various kinds of theft. It also prohibits theft. How does God want us to live? Dealing with crime justly? Or in a world without crime? We are to start living NOW as if we were in Eden.
Now just a little more on divorce…
16 “For I hate divorce [lit. “sending away”],” says YHWH, the God of Israel, “and he who covers his clothing with violence,” says YHWH of hosts. “You must keep on being attentive to your spirit and you must not be unfaithful.”
Malachi 2:16
But what happened at Eden after Adam and Eve sinned. God sent them away, he drove them out of Eden. God divorced adam. YHWH later had to divorce Israel…
8 And I saw that for this very reason, that on account of unfaithful Israel committing adultery I divorced her and gave the letter of divorce to her.
Jeremiah 3:8a
…so it is not always sinful to get divorced and the grounds for God’s divorce of Israel were adultery.