Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” vs. 9
Mark 10:2-12
The Pharisees regularly accused Jesus of being lax about matters of the law, but Jesus wasn’t really lax about anything. Of course he thought their rules about healing on the sabbath were malarkey, but he maintained that the law itself was corrupt. In the case of marriage Deuteronomy allowed a man to divorce his wife if he found something objectionable about her. Jesus told the Pharisees that was ridiculous, a total accommodation to the base desires of men. He told them that marriage was inviolable from the beginning, implying that it is the basic building block of community. The disciples were startled by his words, as are most of us! We too have become accustomed to divorce in our communities, and have learned to make accommodation for it. Divorced persons are seldom stigmatized, and long-lasting marriages have almost become a rarity. But our acceptance of divorce’s reality does little to mitigate its pain and long-term effects. While in some circumstances children are blessed by a divorce, more often the breakup is devastating and damaging. At the very least it leads to family instability. How much better it would be if we continued to do the work that leads to strong marriages! And probably the best thing anyone could do is to be wise about marriage partners. If a woman marries a jerk, she should know that Prince Charming is never going to magically show up! What we see is what we get!
Thought for the Day: How has divorce impacted my family?
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