Sermon Tone Analysis

*Mark 10:1-5… *Rising up, Jesus went from there to the region of Judea, and beyond the Jordan; crowds gathered around him again, and according to his custom, he began to teach them. 2 Then some Pharisees came up to him, testing him, and began to question him whether it was lawful for a man to divorce a wife.

3 And he answered and said to them, “What did Moses command you?” 4 And they said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.”

5 But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment.”

*Commentary*

            After Jesus left Capernaum in Galilee he made his way towards Jerusalem in Judea.

Mark 10:1 says that he went “beyond the Jordan” – an area in Palestine known as Perea (literally “beyond”).

The crowds followed him, and as was his custom, he taught them in v. 1.

There were Pharisees in the crowd, however, who came to test in v. 2. It is significant that they approached Jesus in the region of Galilee with their question about divorce because Herod Antipas was the governor there, and he was the one who had John the Baptist imprisoned and later beheaded (Mark 6:14-29) because he dared to speak out against Herod and his unlawful marriage to his brother’s wife.

Clearly the Pharisees wanted Jesus to say something in Herod’s territory so that they could accuse him before Herod and have him arrested just like John.

After all, they’d been conspiring with Herod’s men since the early days of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee (cf.

Mark 3:6).

The Pharisees were among the most influential religious and political parties of Judaism during Jesus’ day.

They were strict adherents to the laws of the OT but more so to their own man-made traditions.

Jesus had offended them on more than one occasion, and they wanted to silence him.

But ironically Jesus passed their “test” and embarrassed them again in front of the crowds.

He answered their question about divorce by asking, “What did Moses command you?”

And because Moses received and spoke God’s Word as given to him on Mount Sinai Jesus had no need to add to his teachings, for Moses’ words were Scripture to the Pharisees.

Then the Pharisees answered Jesus by reminding him, in v. 4, that Moses had in fact permitted divorce by allowing a husband to write his wife a certificate if he found in her “some indecency” (Deut.

24:1).

Now this phraseology is somewhat vague, and the Jewish rabbis were divided as to its exact meaning.

Some held that it could not signify sexual sins because that was punishable by death (Deut.

22:22-24; Lev.

20:10).

One side of the debate held that divorce was /never/ proper; the other side said it was for the most trivial of reasons (like burning the husband’s food!).

But because Moses allowed for divorce people abused the provision.

The question posed to Jesus then was pertinent, but the motive behind the question was sinister.

The Pharisees thought they had Jesus in a trap because any answer he gave was sure to fail in their minds.

In v. 5 Jesus reminded the Pharisees that Moses’ stipulation for divorce in Deut.

24:1 was for those who had “hard hearts” and it wasn’t a command to divorce.

The Law itself was given to protect the unwanted wife so that she would not suffer disgrace upon being rejected by her husband and would be able to remarry.

Moses’ provision for divorce then was a  payback to the husbands as opposed to a guilt-free permission for them to divorce and remarry for any reason.

*Food for Thought*

The question of divorce~/remarriage is as pertinent today as it was in Jesus’ day.

So when we ponder the legality of divorce we must do what Jesus taught, namely, return to Scripture.

He quoted Moses who /allowed/ for divorce for one reason: because people were hard-hearted.

So it is today.

Folks are going to do what they want to do, but what we want to do isn’t always the right thing.

God hates divorce, and though He allows for it, because He hates it – it can’t be good.

*Mark 10:6-9…* “But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female.

7 ‘For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, 8 and the two shall become one flesh; so they are no longer two, but one flesh.’

9 Now what God has joined together, let no man separate.”

*Commentary*

            Jesus recognized that Moses had written a provision for divorce in the OT Scriptures (Deut.

24:1-4).

He acknowledged this to the Pharisees who were trying to trap him, but he also knew that the provision was for people who simply wanted their own way – the hard-hearted.

Now Moses didn’t command divorce; he simply allowed it, and since Moses wrote God’s words, it was really God who allowed for divorce for the hard-hearted who demanded their own way.

Jesus then gave the Pharisees, in v. 6, a theology lesson on what marriage really is.

He said that, in spite of the fact that divorce was permitted, from the creation of the world God made people male and female – a reference to Genesis 1:27 when God created man on the sixth day of the creation itself and brought Adam and Eve together to form one flesh.

Then he quoted Genesis 2:24 which says, “For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”

So the two people are no longer two but one, and God has joined them together.

Now what God has joined together no man is to separate.

In saying these things Jesus gives at least four reasons why divorce was not in God’s original plan.

First, in the beginning God created mankind male and female.

Now aside from this passage proving that even Jesus believed in God’s special creation of mankind (not evolution), it shows that God didn’t create groups of women and groups of men whereby people chose to be with more than one.

He created them “male” and “female,” and in the beginning it was just them.

Therefore, divorce~/remarriage was not an option by simple virtue of there only being two people.

Second, Jesus says that once a man and a woman leave their father and mother they “join” together.

Of course Adam and Eve had no parents, but their union would stand as the standard for all future marriages who do leave father and mother.

The Hebrew root behind “join” is used for glue in bringing things together to form a bond.

It clearly has the connotation of a male and a female coming together for eternity without the possibility of divorce.

Third, the male and female were to become “one flesh.”

The Apostle Paul gives insight as to what this means in 1 Corinthians 7:4… “The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does.

Likewise, the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.”

Therefore, the husband and wife are indissoluble, and if their union should bring about children, their offspring becomes the perfect insignia of their oneness.

Their offspring will be unique in that they will carry the combined traits of both parents.

The final reason why divorce was not in God’s original plan is that marriage is made in heaven: “What God has joined together let no man separate” (v.

9).

Marriage, whether coming together foolishly or wisely – whether by believers or unbelievers – is a bond sealed by God in heaven (the same way all children are).

And when God creates something, whether a child or a marriage, it is His creation, and it must not be terminated by an act of man (abortion or divorce).

*Food for Thought*

            God hates divorce (Malachi 2:16) because it tears apart what He joined together.

Don’t you hate it when you make something, fix something, or simply arrange something the way you like it – then someone comes along and ruins it?

That’s what divorce is; we break what God joined together.

Praise God today that even though we are continually unfaithful to Him – that because of His commitment to love us He will never divorce us.

And may we be more like that.

*Mark 10:10-12…* And in the house the disciples began questioning Jesus about divorce again.

11 And He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her; 12 and if she herself divorces her husband and marries another man, she is committing adultery.”

*Commentary*

            The sin of adultery was (and is) a heinous sin.

Exodus 20:14 says, “You shall not commit adultery.”

Leviticus 20:10 says, “If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife… both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death.”

Clearly God views this sin with divine hatred.

But because the society in Jesus’ day (along with that of our own) was wicked and unable to remain married to one person for trivial reasons, God allowed for divorce.

He didn’t command it or condone it; He only allowed for it.

Sadly, God’s provision for divorce (Deut.

24:1) for the hard-hearted became all too common in Israel.

So it is today as well.

In Mark 10:10, having silenced the Pharisees, Jesus and the Twelve arrived at an unknown “house.”

And the disciples began questioning Jesus about the divorce stipulation in the Law of Moses.

So in v. 11 Jesus explained to them in simple terms what adultery really was: “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her.”

From this passage (addressed to husbands) it appears that adultery doesn’t occur when one simply divorces his wife; it occurs when the man remarries.

His sin is then not against God, per se, but against his first wife!

In other words, it’s not the divorce that constitutes adultery but the remarriage after a divorce.

Even though the man may have secured a certificate of divorce for his wife legally, in God’s eyes he would still be married to his first wife.

The same thing is true, per v. 12, in relation to the wife who would seek a divorce.

She would be an adulteress, not for divorcing, but for remarrying.

Now it should be noted that a wife seeking a divorce was rare in the first century.

To do so would leave a woman destitute and without financial support.

It’s possible that Mark included this statement for the Gentile church in Rome for which he likely penned his Gospel.

But writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit it seems clear that this addition would be relevant for all generations that followed.

Now Matthew’s Gospel (19:9) includes a provision for divorce, namely, for sexual infidelity.

This should not, however, be confused with Moses’ provision in Deut.

24:1 which did not address infidelity but protection for the woman who had been sent away so that she wouldn’t be considered an adulteress (which was punishable by death).

But even in the case of infidelity divorce is not /recommended/ by Jesus in Matt.