Mark 10:2-12
2 And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” 3 He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” 4 They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.”5 And 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 ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife,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 not man separate.”
10 And in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. 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.”
The Pharisees would always look for ways to ask Jesus questions that might stir up controversy and in this passage, we see them asking a touchy subject like divorce. But Jesus again answered them by going back to the heart of the matter.
He said that the reason Moses allowed divorce was because man’s heart was hard. It did not want to listen. Men did not want to fight for their marriage. It wasn’t out of a joyful disposition that Moses wrote the certificate of divorce, it was out of a heavy heart. In divorce, a lot of people lose. The children, the friends, the community you have built as a couple.
In verse 7 and 8, Jesus went back to remind them of the covenant of marriage. God made man and woman be in a marriage and that both should host fast to each other. Till death do us apart, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer. What God has joined, glued together let no one separate. Sad to say, we live in a culture where separation is becoming normal.
Let me talk to the singles reading this blog – before you get married, choose and pray wisely. Let not divorce even be in your conversation. Sister, choose a godly man who would love and respect you. Choose a man whose leadership you would respect. Same way, men, choose someone who you can’t live without. A woman who loves God and a woman who is a suitable partner. Marriage is something you work out. God has given us guidelines to make it work. Happiness in marriage is a choice and a decision.
In the video below, Bishop Juray shared about the heart of marriage and love: