March 06, 2025 | Be God's Family
Jesus Teaches on Divorce
Scripture: Matthew 19:1-12(NIV)
1 When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went into the region of Judea to the other side of the Jordan. 2 Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.
3 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?”
4 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ 5 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’? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
7 “Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”
8 Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. 9 I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”
10 The disciples said to him, “If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.”
11 Jesus replied, “Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. 12 For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others—and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.”
Devotional
When some Pharisees tried to trip up Jesus by drawing Him into their own debate about what makes for a lawful divorce, Jesus goes all the way back to creation. In Genesis 1, the very first chapter of the Bible, God the Father, Son & Holy Spirit create people:
26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27 So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” (Genesis 1:26-28)
Then in Genesis 2, the creation of people is told in a more narrative fashion:
7 Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
19 Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.
But for Adam no suitable helper was found. 21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
23 The man said,
“This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
for she was taken out of man.”
24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. 25 Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame. (Genesis 2:7, 18-25)
What do the passages from Genesis and Matthew, the first books of the Old and New Testament, teach us about humanity, sexuality, marriage, and divorce?
Poem
Do Not Harden Your Heart
Psalm 95
Today, if only you would hear his voice, “Do not harden your hearts…”
Psalm 95: 7b-8a
Do not harden your heart o’er a word or two said
When the other is hungry or longing for bed
Do not store up resentments in heart’s cellar deep
But instead settle grievances ‘fore you go to sleep
When annoyed, try this discipline—before others raise
An attribute, action by which you can praise
The one whom by you are especially annoyed
And thus roots of bitterness you can avoid
Praise God, know that iron and iron bring sharp’ning
Instead of the nagging or secretive harp’ning
For when in your heart you give God all the praise
Your own heart will soften and love in you raise
Remember your blindness to faults others might see
And be gracious, forgiveness is truly the key
May your home be all peaceful, your sleep truly sweet
As you tend to your heart, not allowing deceit
