SCRIPTURE: Matthew 5:27-37

OBSERVATION:
Keeping one’s word is essential in the world as God designed it. Broken promises undermine the stability and welfare of society. Jesus’ kingdom ethic is clear on the need for maintaining fidelity within marriage. Stay true to your promise, says Jesus. The only exception is when the other partner severs the relationship by infidelity. Jesus is not condemning the “innocent” party as an adulterer, but impressing on the one initiating the divorce that they are MAKING their partner a vow-breaker. Jesus is not calling the “innocent” partner sexually immoral simply because they are being divorced. But by necessity they cannot keep their vows (because the partner has left them), and so in this sense they become adulterers. Elsewhere Paul indicates that if a spouse insists on leaving, the other partner is not bound (1 Corinthians 7:15).

Jesus also points out that it is not just public, acted-out sin that is a breaking of the marriage vow, but even lustful looking. Root this out as sin, says Jesus, it is serious. Like anger, it puts you at risk of ending up in the garbage heap, burned (hell is literally Gehenna, a garbage dump that was always burning, outside of Jerusalem).

APPLICATION:
Jesus is not dangling eternal damnation over people to scare them from sinning, but warning them of the natural consequences of breaking vows and entertaining lust in the heart. You will get burned. The wisdom of Proverbs echoes this warning (Proverbs 6:27-29). Do I think that little compromises (a peak here, a look there) will not harm me, or my relationship with my wife? Do I take sin this serious, willing to cut it off, root it out, NO MATTER WHAT?

PRAYER:
Lord, I confess that I do not take my sin this seriously. I act as if I can get away with it. Even though I do not always reason this out, my actions can reveal that I do not take sin seriously. Help me to be more serious! Amen.