Divorce & children

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. And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" He answered them, "What did Moses command you?"  They said, "Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away." And Jesus said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment.  But from the beginning of creation, 'God made them male and female.'  'Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife,  and the two shall become one flesh.' So they are no longer two but one flesh.  What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate."  And in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. - Mark 10:1‭-‬10 ESV

Pastor Justin Kim

Jesus addresses

What does it mean to be a follower of Christ?

1st story: Divorce

The Pharisees were trying to test Jesus and possibly trap him. So they asked him about divorce and whether divorce was allowed. Jesus to replies with a question, what did Moses command? Deuteronomy was the only old testament reference about divorce. It was hardly a command. The assumption here was that when Moses addressed divorce, it was already happening. Moses was only trying to minimize the damage from what was already happening. This was a trick question. Moses never made any commands about divorce. Jesus instead refers back to Genesis and the whole law. Marriage was never meant to be broken by man. The Pharisees were being asked about how far they could go. But that's the problem. We should not be asking how far we can go. How far before it becomes sin? But instead we should be asking how to better glorify God. The question is not whether divorce is sinful, but what is most glorifying to God. We should not look to see how far we can go on physical intimacy outside of marriage before it becomes sin.

2nd story: children

Children were not important during that that time and day. Jesus valued children. He wanted no hindrance to them, even though they were not valued. This was a radical idea. The children had inherent value. But not only that, he says that a childlike quality is needed for entry into heaven. We need to receive the kingdom like a child receives a gift. We should receive the gift of eternal life like how children receive good gifts from their parents. The Nigerian prince says you have a large financial inheritance, but instead of a scam, you accept and your bank account shoots up. But the heavenly inheritance is much, much greater. Unimaginable.

Kingdom oriented living is not something we have to do... It is something we get to do. It is the proper response to the great gift given to us by the blood and death of Jesus upon the cross.