Mark 10:2-12 (NRSV)
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Verse 2Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" Verse 3He answered them, "What did Moses command you?" Verse 4They said, "Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her." Verse 5But Jesus said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. Verse 6But from the beginning of creation, 'God made them male and female.' Verse 7'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, Verse 8and the two shall become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Verse 9Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate."
Verse 10Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. Verse 11He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; Verse 12and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery."
Devotion
Jesus’ harsh words against divorce must be considered against a societal and cultural backdrop in which adultery was thought to be a one-way street, committed only by wives and only against husbands. When Jesus speaks to adultery as a two-way street, when Jesus warns against “whoever divorces his wife and marries another…,” he sounds a bracing tone of equality.
One has to be valued in order to be held accountable. Jesus’ unprejudiced call to fidelity carries an implied new reality in which every person faces reproval and is also worth redemption.
Prayer
God, give us keenness of sight and an unbiased vantage point. May we see the fidelities and infidelities of ourselves as well as those of our neighbors. May we see one another as equally worthy to be recast in your refiner's fire. Amen.