UNDERSTANDING THE MARRIAGE COVENANT 3 - WHAT JESUS SAID

“And some of the Pharisees came up, and in order to test Him and try to find a weakness in Him asked, Is it lawful for a man to dismiss and repudiate and divorce his wife. He answered them, What did Moses command you? They replied, Moses allowed a man to write a bill of divorce and put her away. But Jesus said to them, Because of the hardness of heart (your condition of insensibility to the call of  God) he wrote you this precept in your law. But from the beginning of creation God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave (behind) his father and his mother and be joined to his wife and cleave closely to her permanently. And the two shall become one flesh, so that they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has united (joined together) let not man separate or divide. And indoors the disciples questioned Him again about this subject. And he said to them, Whoever dismisses (repudiates and divorces) his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. And if a woman dismisses (repudiates and divorces) her husband and marries another, she commits adultery." Mark 10:2- 12. (Amplified)

If you are a Christian or even a non Christian, I am sure you would want to take the words of Jesus seriously concerning the issue of marriage and divorce. This is so much more important because we live in an age where there is so much confusion about what life really means.

Nowadays it is common to hear an unborn child called the “product of conception” as if unborn babies are “commodities” to have and discard as one pleases. The confusion that abounds in the definition of what marriage is has reached alarming proportions with governments of western nations putting pressure on some other nations to implement gay rights with the attendant result that "same sex marriage” is been approved by law. How depraved the world is slowly becoming that very soon it may become approved by law for humans to marry animals.

Let for a moment reflect on one of the reasons why God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19. Earlier in Genesis 18:20 God told Abraham that the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was “great” and “grievous”. Notice the two adjectives used to describe the gross sexual perversion that had come to epitomize these wicked cities. If God did not spare Sodom and Gomorrah who say we will get away with the total neglect and brazen audacity with which mankind is perverting the way of God?

Be that as it may, let us examine closely what Jesus had to say about the issue at hand. There are at least 5 issues that Jesus tackled when the Pharisees brought up this matter.

First is that marriage is between male and female. No matter how we try to justify our preferences, God ordained marriage to be between a man and a woman. This totally excludes same sex marriage! These are not my words but what Jesus said.

Secondly, marriage involves "a leaving” and a “cleaving”. The man leaves behind his father and mother, connoting the fact that he must reorder his priority in terms of his relationships and place his marriage above any other relationship he can be involved in. This is a challenge for men who put their families, careers or even their children before their spouses. Doing this negates God’s order says Jesus.

Thirdly, both the man and woman become one flesh – inseparable, indivisible. Divorce or separation or having a living in “partner” is outside God’s tenets. 

Fourthly, Jesus said unequivocally that divorce and separation is the outworking of the “hardiness of the heart”. In order words, to be divorced or separated from your marriage partner while still living is an exception to the rule. Unfortunately, man in the hardiness of his heart is trying to supplant God's order and uproot the very foundation upon which God says societies should be built.

Finally, Jesus addresses the issue of remarriage and shows that to marry a divorcee while the person’s partner is still alive amounts to adultery. 

What is important for us to take special note of is that once we enter the marriage union we are expected to be committed for life. The Priest will always say “for better for worse, for richer for poorer”. No more no less!

More on this next time!

Femi Imevbore
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