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17th September 2024
TuesdayReflection
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"Matt Edmundson shares"
Matt & Sharon head up the Crowd Church team
"Marriage, Divorce, Remarriage, Singleness
Mark 10:1-12"
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Jesus, when He was asked about this topic of relationships, had a limited time to respond.
And one of the things that is interesting from this passage, is that Jesus' teaching required more explanation for the disciples.
Too many times we just let things fester and never really deal with them.
No relationship is perfect.
Every relationship has issues.
It's what we do about those issues that make the difference.
So, specifically, if you are a Christian couple and your marriage is in a difficult place, please, I implore you, speak to someone about it.
Be open. When you hold things in secret, you keep them hidden in the darkness.
It is in the darkness that the enemy operates.
Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking,
"Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?"
.... Mark 10:1-2
We learn that divorce was easy to do and a wide practice, just as it is today
So, this is how Jesus' teaching on relationships starts.
Let's mention right here the wording of this question - because, in the Jewish culture, it was OK for a man to divorce his wife, but it wasn't OK for a wife to divorce her husband.
A lot of what Jesus is going to teach here is actually to restore the status of women and protect them.
And this is important - is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?
Why would they ask that?
When a first century Jew asked, "When am I allowed to get a divorce from my wife?" - the passage they would turn to is
"If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce ..."
.... Deut 24:1-4 (NIV)
This could be literally anything, as long as you found it indecent.
So this becomes incredibly flexible.
In fact, in the Talmud, they use the example even if she spoiled his dinner.
Now - let's not get too hard on first-century Jews - because let me ask you a question, do we have a better view in modern society?
Almost 40% of the UK couples that got married in the same year Sharon and I did are now divorced according to the office of National Statistics with "Unreasonable behaviour being the most commonly used ground for divorce"
So, just like the first-century Jews, we can find ourselves going to Jesus and asking, "can I divorce my spouse for any reason?
"What did Moses command you?" he replied.
They said, "Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away."
And the reason that Jesus takes them straight to Moses' teaching is that they have twisted meaning into one specific word to get the outcome that they want.
We read the start of what Moses said in Deuteronomy 24, but I want to encourage you to read the rest of the passage and ask yourself, "why?
"It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law," Jesus replied."
.... Mark 10:5
Ouch!
This idea that you cannot divorce for any reasons is as revolutionary then as it is now.
Now let me be clear, that doesn't mean Jesus is opposed to any possible divorce, but he is opposed to a divorce for any possible reason.
Hardness of heart - this happens when your life and motives become about you.
"But at the beginning of creation, God 'made them male and female.'"
.... Mark 10:6
Jesus has taken then right back to the book of Genesis - the beginning of time.
This is before the fall.
Now, remember - He is talking to the Pharisees. These guys thought they knew everything.
They thought they were so smart that they could catch Jesus out here.
But then Jesus says something a little surprising.
"and the two will become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one flesh."
.... Mark 10:8
Ideally, for Christians, there should never be divorce, because ideally - if two people are living for Christ they should never have a reason to get divorced.
And ideally isn't always reality.
Note that Jesus doesn't say that nothing can separate the two.
But He is warning us - don't let anyone separate you.
><(((°>
This is an extremely edited version.
The full article (MUCH MORE) is avaiable on request
Scroll down for the continuation of this discussion.
'CROWD'
is part of the Frontline Family.
Frontline is a modern, vibrant, friendly church that started in 1992 when two small churches merged together.
From those small beginnings, Frontline has grown considerably to around 800 men, women and children.
Matt Edmundson
Matt and Sharon head up the Crowd Church team.
Matt also runs his own business whilst Sharon teaches English to refugees and asylum seekers.
If we're honest, the church is often seen as a place that is old fashioned, irrelevant and well, just plain boring.
But we believe the church can and should be different because Jesus is definitely NOT old fashioned, irrelevant and boring.
In fact, He is the exact opposite of these things.
More
Jesus seems to repeat Himself. And it is deliberate - because He is jumping all over another false idea that they had at the time - and it was around polygamy.
There was a school of thought at the time that the word 'they' could mean multiple as it didn't explicitly say two.
In other words, implicit in the text of Adam and Eve getting married was that it was two people uniting.
But because it doesn't explicitly say two become one, but it rather says they become one, then people have interpreted that to mean that we can marry more than one wife.
Now - I know this is twisted and nuts.
But, for a lot of people, even today, this is a reason for them to take more than one wife.
So Jesus makes it really clear to His audience that, in His opinion, 'they' is two. And repeats this just to be clear.
"and the two will become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one flesh."
- Mark 10:8
"Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate."
- Mark 10:9
Now, this is pretty awesome!
Jesus is telling us that marriage, done right, where two people unite into one flesh, is joined together by God.
Just think about that. God has joined you together.
Once in the Private Place, his disciples asked him to explain it to them again.
This intrigues me - and it gives us insight into the fact that Jesus has just gone and rocked their thinking somewhat.
They heard what they heard - but they needed Jesus to explain it further.
So Jesus obliges and explains it further.
"He answered, "Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her.
And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery."
- Mark 10:11-12
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