Dwell in the Word Mark 10:1-12
Think of these questions as we dwell in Mark 10:1-12:
1. How does Jesus respond to the Pharisees' question about divorce, and what underlying message is He conveying about the sanctity of marriage and the faithfulness of God?
2. In what way does Jesus emphasize the importance of faithfulness and covenant in marriage, drawing from the biblical foundation of God's design for male and female relationships? How does this reflect God's own faithfulness to humanity?
3. Beyond marital relationships, how can the principles of faithfulness and covenantal love be applied in other interpersonal relationships? How does the gospel message of forgiveness and sacrifice serve as a model for our interactions with others, reflecting the love God has shown to us?
Transcript:
As we step into Chapter 10 of Mark, we come to Jesus teaching about divorce. Now, this is an interesting passage because we have these questions too, right? Well, the Pharisees come to Jesus and ask a very vague question, Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife? Now, there's no situations attached to this here. It seems as though the Pharisees are trying to do what the Pharisees often do. They're trying to trap Jesus. Now, remember, if we go back to the story about John the Baptist and Herod Antipus, we remember that the wife of Herod, it was not lawful there. Remember, he took his brother's wife. And so, it is as if the Pharisees are trying to maybe get Jesus to say something that would be against what Herod has done. And so, Jesus does what Jesus does. He puts the question onto them. He says, Hey, what did Moses tell you? They give this answer about Moses allowing a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away. But they, once again, are vague. They're not talking about the specifics of the situation, but Jesus wants more out of them. He expects a more specific answer.
We see that Jesus is talking here about the importance of marriage, that this isn't just something you throw aside. Instead, it is ordained by God. In fact, He says from the creation, God made them male and female. God gets to define what marriage is. And a man leaves his father and mother and holds fast to his wife. Man and woman don't just throw that out. And they are one flesh. Again, God does something in marriage. And the idea here is that we are coming together in marriage, and we are trusting that God has provided the person that we need. And so, as we look at this, it's really easy for us to maybe try and talk about these different things. But Jesus says in other parts of the New Testament that divorce is only for instances of marital infidelity, that if someone commits adultery, then that marriage bond can be broken. And so, what we're understanding here is something about the very nature of God. We're learning that God wants us to be faithful. God wants us to be in covenant with one another. God wants us to stay faithful.
Why? Because he is faithful to us. Remember in the Old Testament, when the people of Israel were unfaithful to God, what were they described as? As an unfaithful wife. But we have a God who is faithful. And so, we in our lives are to reflect that very nature of God. And so, this is a difficult passage to do some devotional thoughts on, right? Here we have this difficult situation that we're talking about, but what is the big message here? The faithfulness of God. Jesus wants our lives to be dependent upon Him, and He wants us to understand that He is faithful to us, and so we should be faithful to one another. As we think about this passage for our lives, as we think about our marriages, about the relationships that we see around us, we need to think, are we reflecting who God is in this? Are we desiring to be faithful to our spouse as God has been faithful to us? And so, may we consider these things, and may our love for our spouse be rooted in that gospel love that God has had for us, that love that is rooted in forgiveness and in sacrifice.
And may we reflect that love in all of our relationships, not just our spousal relationships, but in every relationship. May we be filled with grace and with mercy and with love and all the relationships that we have, that we might reflect the grace and mercy that God has shown to us in the Lord Jesus.
