Following Jesus: The single man, the husband, the older brother

Jesus on Marriage and Children

(Mark 10:1-16, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, July 21, 2019)

[1] And he left there and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan, and crowds gathered to him again. And again, as was his custom, he taught them.

[2] And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” [3] He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” [4] They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.” [5] And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. [6] But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ [7] ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, [8] and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. [9] What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

[10] And in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. [11] And he said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, [12] and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

[13] And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. [14] But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. [15] Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” [16] And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.

He taught them.

It would be easy for people in every era to underestimate Jesus. With the benefit of the Old Testament that prepares us for his coming and the New Testament that sends us forth in mission as his followers, we need to avoid this serious error. He is Jehovah in the flesh, the great I-AM come in person. He led a life of singular holiness. He showed a commitment in love to us that is the very definition of faithfulness. He knows that we are vulnerable and he powerfully watches out for us and shows us the right way to grow as Christians.

Many people came to see Jesus perform miracles. Some heard him gladly when he taught. We need to do more than that—we must be disciples. We see, we hear, and we follow by his grace.

Marriage: What God has joined together...

The Pharisees came to Jesus with a question, not because they were looking for his perfect instruction, but to test him with the aim that he would get himself in trouble either with powerful authorities or with crowds of people.

The questioned they asked concerned divorce. “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” Jesus turns the question back upon them: “What did Moses command you?”

No one could answer that Moses commanded that anyone get a divorce. Moses did record God's instructions for marriage from Genesis 1 and 2. They ignored those important words, and referenced not a command but a limitation or an allowance.

“Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.” Deuteronomy 24:1-4 gives us the passage they refer to. The first three verses present the situation. A man gives his wife a certificate of divorce. She then becomes another man's wife. The new husband then dies. Those are simply the facts of the case. There is no commandment in any of that. The ruling comes in verse 4, that if the original husband then desires to take his wife back who he had divorced, he cannot have her back. That is said to be offensive to the Lord and defiling to the land of Israel.

Jesus teaches that Moses allowed the divorce only because of the “hardness of heart” among the people. Divorce was never commanded or recommended. The larger instruction of the first two chapters of the Bible was what they needed (and we still need that), not what might be the horrible remedy under all kinds of particular cases that display our own hardness of heart and that of others.

The best answer is positive and not negative. Here is the outline of five very practical points: 1. Marriage was instituted by God and comes from the “beginning of creation.” 2. It is part of the essence of this divine institution that “God made them male and female.” 3. A new marriage requires some measure of leaving and cleaving. Though an extended family or clan remains and can be a great blessing, a new family is formed when a man and a woman take their vows. 4. This relationship of the vow-making joining of one man and one woman is God's plan for “one flesh” intimacy according to the obvious design of the Almighty. 5. God joined the two together. “Let not man separate” what the Lord has united.

Through further probing from the disciples on this matter, one additional theological proposition is added, and it is very important. Jesus surprisingly calls two specific cases of these principles (of which there could be as many as people can imagine) “adultery,” thus connecting all of this behavior with the Ten Commandments and in specific the seventh which says, “You shall not commit adultery.” Passages like this one and Matthew 5:27-28 teach us that the meaning of the Ten Commandments is not limited to the strictest literal words, but reflect the heart matters at the root of honest obedience.

Children: He took them in his arms and blessed them.

The verses that remain in our text teach us the blessed fruit of marriage in the amazing gift of children. Specifically, people have an impulse to have Jesus lay hands upon their little ones for a blessing, and this is very good. Conversely it is very bad to hinder them from being brought to Jesus and their later coming to Jesus without the aid of being carried. This was to be seen by all, as marriage also clearly is, as an illustration of spiritual truths that go to the core of our relationship with God and our place in his kingdom.

THE POINT: Jesus believes in marriage and the blessing of children. All his disciples need to receive his teaching and follow him in accord with their specific callings.

Applying these verses:

1. Following Jesus, the single man. Who is teaching all of this? A single man. Dignity.

2. Following Jesus, the husband. Who loves us as his blood-bought bride? Jesus only.

3. Following Jesus, the older brother. Who watches over us entirely? Our shepherd.

Old Testament Reading—Psalm 118 – The stone that the builders rejected

New Testament Reading—James 5:19-20 – Bring the wandering one home