I Discussed Divorce

Meditations based on readings from

The Story of My Life As Told by Jesus Christ

November 19, 2019

I Discussed Divorce

Page 195-196

Matthew 13:53a, 19:1-12; Mark 10:1b-12; Luke 16:18

“Then Jesus left Capernaum and went down to the region of Judea and into the area east of the Jordan River” (Mark 10:1). This little tidbit is important in understanding why the Pharisees were trying to trap Jesus. This is the same region where John the Baptist preached. John challenged King Herod because the King’s wife, Herodias, had divorced the King’s brother, Phillip, so she could marry the King. John essentially charged that King Herod was unfit to be the King of Israel. The Pharisees were trying to draw Jesus into this same discussion in hopes that Jesus would meet the same fate as did his cousin John.

Jesus responds to the Pharisees, but not with the details they were hoping for. Those he saves for later when he is alone with his disciples. God’s will is peace, righteousness, justice and mercy for all human beings: children, women, and men. Jesus is saying that God’s intention is for man and woman to become one through marriage. He also notes that because of the hardheartedness of humans, this standard was often missed and that even Moses (as well as the Apostle Paul) recognized exceptions to maintaining marital unity.

It is important to note that divorce, as the term is used in Jesus’ time can also be understood as abandonment. In a society where women were dependent on their husbands or families for support, when a man divorced his wife, it could well leave her destitute. In the Jewish law, there was not a provision for women divorcing their husbands.

My Takeaway: Implicit in Jesus’ referring to God’s intentional will for marriage is that, with the coming of the Messiah, God is providing the means for his will to be fulfilled.

“For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.”

Philippians 2:13

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Copyright © 2019 by Alex M. Knight

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

• Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

• The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.