NT Journey—Matthew 19
What's Really Important
What I love about Jesus is He has a real knack for getting right to the heart of the issue. Oftentimes you'll see the gospel writers say "the people were amazed because Jesus taught as one who had authority..." This seems a strange thing for us, because we tend to think, "of course, He taught as if He had authority--He did." But that's not how it worked back then. In those days, random people didn't just have authority. Jesus was not trained in the finest schools or come up through the ranks of nobility. Yet He claimed and people accepted that there was some other kind of authority there.
We can see this most clearly in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7, where Jesus says, "You have heard it said...but I say..." Matthew 19 has a couple more instances of this same thing. The first instance is the conversation Jesus had with the Pharisees about divorce. As always their question was whether such and such was "lawful." As we've already seen, Jesus was not so concerned about if something was lawful. It's not that Jesus was a lawbreaker just for the sake of rebelling, but Jesus understood that it's not the law that's most important.
So when the Pharisees ask Jesus a question about the law, He doesn't even go back to the Law, He goes back to Genesis, to the relationship that marriage nurtures and protects. Whether it's technically lawful is completely missing the point. The purpose of the "certificate of divorce" in Bible times was to protect the woman. Understand that women were seen as property in those days. They really couldn't sustain themselves without the support of a man. When she was married, her husband was her provider and protector, when she was not, her father or maybe a brother or other relative had to care for her.
So if a man got tired of his wife and wanted to get with another woman he could do so without any recourse. But the result for the woman was that she would often have to turn to prostitution to be able to eat. The certificate of divorce basically showed other men that she's "marriable." Of course, if she committed adultery, he didn't have to provide such a certificate.
But Jesus' concern (and actually the concern of the original Law) was not with the technicalities of the Law, it was to protect relationship. That Law gave women some power that they didn't have, but Jesus went a step further. In verse 9, Jesus says, "I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery." When Jesus said this, His intent was not to make another Law, but it was to challenge the casual attitude of men toward adultery. If you're familiar with the story in John 8 about the woman caught in the act of adultery, you'll see this attitude very clearly. The religious leaders only brought the woman to Jesus, but doesn't it take two people to commit adultery. What Jesus is doing in verse 9 is to turn the prevailing attitude on it's head. Before, men could get off on a technicality, but not with Jesus--not now.
When you look at Jesus' attitude toward divorce, it might change some of our prevailing attitudes toward divorce as well. We don't take divorce lightly, for sure. (Remember: less rules, higher standards.) There are some who would say that an abused woman can not get a divorce under any circumstances because Jesus said only marital unfaithfulness was grounds for divorce. When we do this, we do the same thing the Pharisees did. The intent of divorce law was to protect the weaker party. When we use the Bible to tell an abused woman she can't get out of that relationship, we go against the intent of what the Law was intended to do.
Now this is the thing about Jesus' way. Laws are easy. It's much easier for us to say, "Nope, the Bible says you're not allowed to divorce...sorry." It's harder to enter into the life of a struggling couple and offer hope and reconciliation. You see, I'm not (nor was Jesus) arguing that divorce is the best or even a good option. But what I'm saying is that giving up my rights and my selfish attitude is a higher standard than just following the rules.
Jesus does the same thing with the rich man in the second half of chapter 19. The man thinks He's OK because He follows the Commandments. But Jesus calls Him to something more than just following the rules. That's just the way He is.
What I love about Jesus is He has a real knack for getting right to the heart of the issue. Oftentimes you'll see the gospel writers say "the people were amazed because Jesus taught as one who had authority..." This seems a strange thing for us, because we tend to think, "of course, He taught as if He had authority--He did." But that's not how it worked back then. In those days, random people didn't just have authority. Jesus was not trained in the finest schools or come up through the ranks of nobility. Yet He claimed and people accepted that there was some other kind of authority there.
We can see this most clearly in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7, where Jesus says, "You have heard it said...but I say..." Matthew 19 has a couple more instances of this same thing. The first instance is the conversation Jesus had with the Pharisees about divorce. As always their question was whether such and such was "lawful." As we've already seen, Jesus was not so concerned about if something was lawful. It's not that Jesus was a lawbreaker just for the sake of rebelling, but Jesus understood that it's not the law that's most important.
So when the Pharisees ask Jesus a question about the law, He doesn't even go back to the Law, He goes back to Genesis, to the relationship that marriage nurtures and protects. Whether it's technically lawful is completely missing the point. The purpose of the "certificate of divorce" in Bible times was to protect the woman. Understand that women were seen as property in those days. They really couldn't sustain themselves without the support of a man. When she was married, her husband was her provider and protector, when she was not, her father or maybe a brother or other relative had to care for her.
So if a man got tired of his wife and wanted to get with another woman he could do so without any recourse. But the result for the woman was that she would often have to turn to prostitution to be able to eat. The certificate of divorce basically showed other men that she's "marriable." Of course, if she committed adultery, he didn't have to provide such a certificate.
But Jesus' concern (and actually the concern of the original Law) was not with the technicalities of the Law, it was to protect relationship. That Law gave women some power that they didn't have, but Jesus went a step further. In verse 9, Jesus says, "I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery." When Jesus said this, His intent was not to make another Law, but it was to challenge the casual attitude of men toward adultery. If you're familiar with the story in John 8 about the woman caught in the act of adultery, you'll see this attitude very clearly. The religious leaders only brought the woman to Jesus, but doesn't it take two people to commit adultery. What Jesus is doing in verse 9 is to turn the prevailing attitude on it's head. Before, men could get off on a technicality, but not with Jesus--not now.
When you look at Jesus' attitude toward divorce, it might change some of our prevailing attitudes toward divorce as well. We don't take divorce lightly, for sure. (Remember: less rules, higher standards.) There are some who would say that an abused woman can not get a divorce under any circumstances because Jesus said only marital unfaithfulness was grounds for divorce. When we do this, we do the same thing the Pharisees did. The intent of divorce law was to protect the weaker party. When we use the Bible to tell an abused woman she can't get out of that relationship, we go against the intent of what the Law was intended to do.
Now this is the thing about Jesus' way. Laws are easy. It's much easier for us to say, "Nope, the Bible says you're not allowed to divorce...sorry." It's harder to enter into the life of a struggling couple and offer hope and reconciliation. You see, I'm not (nor was Jesus) arguing that divorce is the best or even a good option. But what I'm saying is that giving up my rights and my selfish attitude is a higher standard than just following the rules.
Jesus does the same thing with the rich man in the second half of chapter 19. The man thinks He's OK because He follows the Commandments. But Jesus calls Him to something more than just following the rules. That's just the way He is.
Labels: divorce, Jesus, law, marriage, Matthew 19, New Testament
posted by Kory at
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