Take 2—Video from Mark Bible Study 30 March 2022

I realize that the video embed didn’t come through in the email yesterday that some of you receive. So, here’s take number 2:

Mark 10:1-16

Divorce

10 Jesus then left that place and went into the region of Judea and across the Jordan. Again crowds of people came to him, and as was his custom, he taught them.

2 Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”

3 “What did Moses command you?” he replied.

4 They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.”

5 “It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,”Jesus replied. 6 “But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ 7 ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, 8 and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

10 When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this.11 He answered, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. 12 And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”

The Little Children and Jesus

13 People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. 14 When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” 16 And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.

This teaching on divorce is a hard teaching. In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus expands on the topic of remarriage a bit and says that adultery is the one reason why remarriage could be permissible. Mark does not include that caveat.

This is a hard teaching, and I’m not going to try to make Jesus say something he doesn’t. If you aren’t married, then understand that marriage is a beautiful thing, but it is a very serious thing. Prepare accordingly. If you are married, then do whatever it takes to stay married. (See yesterday’s reading.) If you are divorced for non- biblical reasons, God is calling you to remain single and not get remarried. And if you got divorced for nonbiblical reasons and got remarried, then understand that God is not asking you to leave your current spouse. Rather, get on your knees with your current spouse, confess before God, and ask for mercy. He will provide it, and you should respond in grateful joy for the rest of your days.

One of the things it means to receive the kingdom of God as a little child is to receive it joyfully and gratefully, like a kid on Christmas morning. And this applies to all of us. None of us deserves mercy, and yet all of us have received it.