“It was also said, Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Matthew 5:31-32

Long before California approved and Ronald Reagan signed “no-fault divorce” into law, the practice of divorcing one’s wife was apparently somewhat common in Jewish law, but did that make it the right thing to do? According to one of my study bibles, “divorce and remarriage were widely accepted and practiced in the ancient world” including first century Jewish teachings.

Later in His ministry a group of religious leaders made an effort to trap Jesus into a no-win situation by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” Christ responded by referring back to the beginning, saying –

“Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh’?So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate”

Matthew 19: 4-5

Have you not read? … Jesus begins His response with a jab directed at the religious leaders who claimed to be authorities on Scripture.

Jesus indirectly addresses a number of topics in the brief response that apply today. He reinforces God as the source of sexual/gender identity and that marriage between a man and woman for a lifetime.  Outside of persistent sexual immorality, Jesus offered no easy way out (Mathew 19:9). Paul provided an additional scenario for the person who has been abandoned by an unbeliever (1 Corinthians 5:17). So, both teachings cover the idea of persistent unfaithfulness to the marriage vows that might also be covered by abuse and abandonment.

I think most of us agree that marriage is among the most important decisions we make as adults. Do we take important decisions in our lives as seriously as we should? Are we ready to sacrifice our own desires for the sake of honoring our vows before God?