The passage between last week’s sermon text and the upcoming sermon (Flipping the Script Matthew 19:16-30) is Matthew 19:1-12!  One of the reasons for using some sort of guide in studying scripture is that it forces us to deal with difficult scriptures that we would rather not have to and would otherwise avoid.  So, it is with Matthew 19:1-12

There was a societal debate taking place during Jesus’ day around divorce.  The Pharisees were looking to force Jesus to choose a side between the followers of Rabbi Hillel who taught that Deuteronomy 24:10 taught that you could divorce for any reason and those of Rabbi Shammai who held to a stricter reading that you could only divorce for infidelity.  What did Jesus say? 

4 He answered, “Have you not read that the one who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate.” (Matthew 19:4-6 NRSV) Jesus goes back to scripture, Gen. 1:27–28; 2:18–25.  In essence, he agrees with Rabbi Shammai and undergirds his argument using scripture. 

Then the Pharisees ask why Moses would have allowed them to divorce with a certificate of dismissal and Jesus says that it is because they were “hard-hearted”, but in the beginning, it was not so.

Jesus then names adultery as the only acceptable reason for divorce.

Then in verses 11-12, he recommends celibacy in singleness for those who can rather than marriage. 

This is a difficult passage for us today in our society, we have a high divorce rate, and we have a high number of couples living together before marriage and this passage makes us uncomfortable.  We would rather that Jesus not said any of this.  But he did.  If we now find ourselves in this position, can we name our sin and accept his forgiveness?  Can we move forward with him and strive to move out of sin and to live into his holiness which he gives to us?  Each of us has fallen to sin whether this is our sin or not, each of us is called to recognize our sin and confess it to Christ and move with him through the power of the Holy Spirit into his holiness.  If we have divorced let us recommit ourselves to celibacy in singleness and fidelity in Christian marriage, if not let us also do likewise. 

Note also that when Jesus is asked about marriage and divorce, he describes God’s original intent for marriage “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate.” (Matthew 19:5-6 NIV) God’s original plan was that one man would marry one woman and that only death would break this bond. 

We live in a broken and sinful world as broken and sinful people. May Jesus, the Son of the Living God, redeem us so that we may accept his invitation to live a new life where we can strive to live for him and where we receive forgiveness when we fail.

Peace,

Burt