What God Has Joined Together: A Meditation on Mark 10 for the 20th Sunday after Pentecost

And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him,

Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him.

And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you?

And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away.

And Jesus answered and said unto them,

For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept.

But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.

For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife;

 And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.

What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

 

And in the house his disciples asked him again of the same matter.

And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife,

and marry another, committeth adultery against her.

 And if a woman shall put away her husband,

and be married to another, she committeth adultery.

 

In our age of hyper-libertine sexuality, Jesus’ teaching in Mark 10 can seem shocking or quaint.  At the time of this exchange between the Pharisees and Jesus, women not only had limited authority to own property and conduct business, but could be summarily dismissed by their husband through a writ of divorce.  Pious keepers of the Law, the Pharisees challenged Jesus with this teaching which they thought they could hang on an exception in Moses’ writings, justifying themselves.  Jesus, in turn, took them back to the beginning, where Moses wrote of man and woman being made for each other, and their complimentary union blessed by God should not be dissolved by man.  Jesus went further, teaching that if man were to break this union (Matthew’s parallel recording of this teaching adds, for any reason other than sexual infidelity,) and attempt to re-marry, both he and his ex-wife would be guilty of adultery before God.  Since adultery is specifically enumerated among the 10 Commandments given at the covenant of Sinai (and keeping the word of one’s covenant before God listed as the second commandment,) to do so is a breach with both Moses’ teaching and God’s command—a double condemnation for the self-justifying Pharisees and their legal gymnastics.

 

This teaching is clear, and was universally accepted across most of the Church’s history until the early 20^th century when specifically Protestants in the West began following the Pharisees’ old gymnastics in the pursuit of unbounded sexual engagements.  Feeling themselves self-justified, many inside and outside the Church have freely entered and dissolved marriages whenever their interests changed, or life together became challenging.  Failure to keep the Word of God in regard to marriage has brought forth calamity in the societies of the West, scarring the souls of children and parents alike, until libertine sexuality of adults becomes a higher priority than the care of nurture of the next generation.  The deconstruction and devaluation of the family, the central bedrock institution of civilization from the dawn of man, has also brought forth the industrialized plague of infanticide under the guise of abortion, and the horror of children being trafficked for adult sexual gratification.  While modern man might tell himself that the covenant of marriage is nothing of significance, the destruction of his own civilization and the wounding of his own soul declares otherwise, and brings forth the curse of Sinai that whoever despises God and His Word will have judgment poured out upon both himself and his progeny.

 

God, however, looks at the human marriage covenant as a reflection of His saving covenant with mankind.  When God gives His Word, it is immutable—His promises and commandments stand forever as the very scaffolding of the cosmos.  God’s covenants, therefore, are indissoluble, just as He is the guarantor of what He’s promised.  Thus, if God says our decent into evil will bring upon us His judgement, He is good and righteous to declare it.  So, too, if He declares that everyone who repents and trusts in Him, abiding in His Word by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone, will be forgiven of their sins and rescued from the hell they have earned, that Gospel is likewise unassailable.  When God made us His people by His Word and Spirit, He did not enter into covenant with us as one who takes his word lightly, nor whose commitment might flag with future disinterest.  Unlike the travesty modern man has made of the wedding covenant between husband and wife, God promises to be wed to His people of faith and repentance in every generation, no matter where they come from or what their condition in life, bringing forth to them the blessing of Sinai by manifesting His steadfast love and compassion upon all who trust in Him.

 

The situation of modern man is not so far removed from the Pharisees of 1^st century Judea, nor of various pagan societies and ages where the Church first brought the light of God’s Word to bear upon their darkness.  While there will be some who reject the Word of God and bring destruction upon themselves and their families, the Word of God does not come to destroy, but that all might have life abundantly in Him.  Our choice before the Word of God is always the same, with God calling everyone to repent, believe, and live by grace through faith in His saving Gospel.  For there is only one God to whom all men are accountable, and through whom all men might be saved, so that there might be one Word Incarnate who has defeated death, hell, and the devil through His one Vicarious Atonement for the sins of the whole world.  The People of God become the Bride of Jesus Christ, prepared for that great wedding feast yet to come, when the fullness of His People have been called into His great and never-ending covenant of grace.  The Promise of God to save everyone who turns to him in faith is not a covenant He makes lightly, nor one He will ever rescind, for the Word of the Lord endures forever.

 

Take heart, dear Christian, however the Word of the Lord has encountered you today.  For it is not the Lord’s will to destroy you in your sin, but to save you by His love and grace in Jesus Christ alone.  Let go the self-justification of your evil desires whatever they may be, and receive the Word of redemption which calls you out of your darkness, and into His marvelous Light.  Hear the Word which comes to you by the power of His Holy Spirit, that each day you might be raised up into the image of your Savior, conformed evermore into the glory of His Word and Will, forgiven and free in Jesus Christ alone—for His covenant never fails.  Soli Deo Gloria! Amen.