Lawful – Unlawful. Permitted – Prohibited. These words have haunted people for centuries. We are always trying to find the line between these pairs of words. We want to stay as close to unlawful on the lawful side of the line. Our nature is to try to push the boundaries. Most of us are edge-walkers, spending our lives looking at the unlawful and prohibited, while standing in the lawful and permitted. And for many of us, the other side is only one step away.
This makes life a perilous journey. If we life on this moral edge, then we must be careful with every step we make. Every next step could be over the line. Talk about a tentative life, a life lived not knowing where our journey will take us. We spend it looking back wondering where we went wrong, how we got off the path, or we are so afraid of the next step that we hesitate constantly, wondering and wandering to places we never expected to see in our journey.
I had my 34th wedding anniversary a few days ago. If I had lived on the edge of moral decisions, I probably would not have the marriage I do. If I had chosen to try to get away with edge crossings, I am pretty sure my life would have been pretty miserable. Edge walking is not where I want to spend my life. I like solid ground in my relationship.
The divorce and remarriage debate has been raging for millennia. I am not here to bring judgment on anyone who has endured its devastations. The price paid by the partners and the children has a definable cost. We see the costs in certain segments of our society in very pronounced ways. In some parts of our society there are almost no married fathers to help raise children and nurture mature adult relationships. And for far too many, marriage never even happened. The foundation of society has so fractured that marriage wasn’t even considered. I just want a baby, so I will get one.
Jesus has a way of cutting through all the pretense and excuses. He can state the rule and violation consequences in very stark terms. The rule is simple. It has been this way since the beginning. Stay married to the same person for life. And if you don’t stay married, then stay single. The second marriage is adultery.
Now I know that there are a couple of clarifying statements other places in Scripture, but I just want to stick with what Jesus says here. He has been questioned by the religious leaders about the lawfulness of divorce. They are purposely attempting to trip Jesus up in His answer. They want to be able to discredit His message. They want to invalidate His claims.
In answering their question Jesus gives a very straightforward answer, allowing no wiggle room for the religious leaders to squirm out of. They ask about lawfulness and Jesus refers to design specifications.
Male and female were made as a matched set. And once they are paired in a set, they are always a set. They are not bookends, but intertwining subplots of the same story. If one is taken away, the story falls apart. There is no way to add a new character to the book. The plot would be too disjointed, missing too many essential pieces.
The Arnold Journey 