Jesus in the Real World

This is a difficult note to write because I know that many of you reading it will either have been through the painful experience of divorce or are facing it. Almost all of us know someone among our own friends or in our own family, who has been in this situation.

It is critical to notice the context here. The Pharisees, whose opposition to Jesus has been mounting, are out to get him and use this question to try and catch him out. The Pharisees ask a legal question, and they get a legal answer. (In fact, there is very little about divorce in the Old Testament. The passage they are citing, in fact, stipulates that if a man divorces his wife, and she remarries and her second husband either dies or divorces her, he may not remarry her. One thing we may take away from this is that divorce happened.)

In an ideal world, there is no divorce.

The second critical thing to notice is Jesus' stance towards people caught in difficult situations in the real world. In real life, with real people, Jesus doesn't appeal to the legal answer. (See John 8:3-11.) Time and time again we see Jesus responding with compassion, meeting people where they are.

The main point in today's reading is the Pharisees' hostility, and how Jesus responded to it.

But because the disciples wanted to know Jesus' real teaching about divorce, he presented them with God's original intention for marriage. This is the Christian ideal.

Respond in Prayer

Jesus, you are my Lord. Help me to respond to people like you did, with your wisdom and your compassion. Amen.

Glynis Belec