Matthew 19:1-9
Matthew 19:1-9
When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went into the region of Judea to the other side of the Jordan. Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there. Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?" "Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." "Why then," they asked, "did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?" Jesus replied, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery." - Matthew 19:1-9
When we seek answers for our lives in the word of God, we need to remember to take the living water of God's Word as it flows, without injecting ourselves or our desires into it. God's will is our guide, not our opinion of God's will. It is not always easy, but it is always right.
God's will regarding marriage is clear: One man and one woman join together in a mutual vow to stay devoted to one another and join their lives together as one life, one union, one marriage. This is the way God designed and established marriage from the beginning, as Jesus refers to the text of Genesis and the account of the first marriage.
Marriage is a God-ordained union through which he blesses people with loving companionship. With marriage God establishes families and provides for the physical and spiritual welfare of children. Regarding marriage God commands, “let man not separate.” No human being should ever separate what God has joined together. He knows the great pain, difficulty and disruption that divorce causes for people and society, so he forbids it. God only allows for divorce in the event of marital unfaithfulness, which breaks the one-flesh union of marriage.
Maybe there are a lot of questions we could still ask about the messy tangle of divorce – what about this case? What about that case? But the principal of God's will is that one man and one woman join together and promise to stay together, to love, and to respect one another.
Rejoice! Where we fail, where we stumble and fall and crash and smash apart our lives, God is still there. His forgiveness flows over us and over sins of our past, sins of our present, and sins even of our futures. We do not have a license to sin, but we do have a forgiving God, who inspires us to live lives of thanks for our Savior, Jesus Christ.
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Our God, marriage is pleasing to you, for you have established it for our good and have promised to bless it. Teach us to uphold your will for marriage and help husbands and wives to love and respect each other. Amen.
