Matthew 5:31-32
“It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery.”
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The people of Jesus’ day were interested in the legality of divorce. They wanted to nail down the exact parameters for carrying it out, convinced that if they did it in the right way, then it was okay. They’d understood from the Law that a certificate of divorce should be given. That must make it legitimate, right? But there was also the ongoing debate over the justifiable basis for divorce – was it just for issues of marital unfaithfulness or was divorce actually allowable for “any and every reason,” a position the Pharisees would later put to Jesus (Matthew 19:3)?
Jesus takes a different approach entirely. Ultimately, he is going to imply that divorce is much more serious than the people of his day were taking it. Rather than approving the correct legal procedure, Jesus casts the whole thing in a new light. And it’s not flattering.
At the time, everyone agreed that adultery was sin. Indeed, just moments before, Jesus had intensified the Law’s teaching against adultery by applying it equally to lust that wells up in heart and mind. One is as bad as the other, Jesus says. Now he stretches the sinfulness of adultery further, stretching it outward to wrap its arms around divorce. Divorce, equally with adultery, breaks the bonds of marriage. Like adultery itself, divorce is tainted.
That would have been an unsettling implication for Jesus’ hearers.
From his point of view, each party to divorce and re-marriage was involved in a fracturing of marriage bonds. The husband, who according to the culture of the day held the right to initiate divorce, was clearly implicated. But so, too, was the wife. Since most women in that day would be unable to support themselves independently, she would be forced into a new marriage relationship, hence breaking her original covenant. Her new husband, too, would be doing the same. Unfaithfulness ended up touching each one.
“Don’t you see,” Jesus was saying to the people of his day, “divorce is much more serious than you realize.”
Similarly, for us.
Flipping the whole discussion around, it’s clear that Jesus has an incredibly high view of marriage. Of course! – he created it. He wants to preserve it. Faithfulness is the standard – it’s the context in which the goodness of the Lord’s design can be lived and experienced. On the other hand, unfaithfulness in all its forms harms it, undermines it, and therefore is out of line with God’s will.
What, then, for those who have gone through divorce, either by their own initiative, their partner’s choice, or through mutual breakdown of relationship?
Allow Jesus to speak. The words of this sermon carry conviction. But his intent is to lead us back to him. His whole life and ministry speak grace, forgiveness, and new beginnings. As he has come to fulfil the Law, he has come to save us in our need, to heal broken hearts, to bind up wounds, and to speak new life. Receive his teaching and yield to his grace.
It all takes us back to the opening words of this sermon:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:3-4).
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Lord, thank you for your direct words. Thank you for your passion to preserve the goodness of marriage. Thank you for grace that meets us in our need.
Please sustain marriages. Please pour out grace and peace on those who experience brokenness. Your kingdom come, your will be done.
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Pray:Think of a married couple (or two) – pray the Lord’s grace and peace upon them.
Think of someone who has experienced divorce – pray the same grace and peace.
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Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
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