PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Matthew 5:31-32
What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage?
“It has been said… But I tell you…” (Matthew 5:31)
If Jesus comes to fulfill the law, why does he contradict Moses (Deuteronomy 24:1-4)?
Moses makes allowance for a man to divorce his wife if she displeases him.
He also speaks of her marrying again, as if that is permissible.
Jesus later explains how Moses made allowance because of their hard hearts…
“But it was not this way from the beginning. ((Matthew 19:7-8).
If the Law of Moses is God’s Law, how could Moses go against God’s creation will?
The answer again is love, the fulfillment of the Law.
Moses, in love, made allowance for situations where divorce needed to happen.
Sometimes the most loving thing to do is to let someone who is unfaithful go.
Jesus is challenging those who use Moses’ law as a loophole, an easy way out.
He is taking the Law of Moses to where God originally intended it to be.
Divorce is a complicated, messy thing, and no one comes out of it unhurt.
Jesus is not condemning the divorced, but those who treat marriage as disposable.
As Jesus followers, as much as possible, we need to be agents of healing, not hurt.
PRAYER
Lord, in this sin-hardened world, divorce is unavoidable. May we do our part to help and heal struggling marriages, and not treat others as disposable or divorce as easy.
Consequences. Think of what I do as it impacts others. How I deal with others – whether in intimate or contractual situations or even in disagreement – my behaviour and actions have consequences. For a woman at that time and as I’ve seen in other nations, divorced women lose all support and are treated like trash – as their support and livelihood are gone – is it any wonder that they end up doing desperate things – to survive. There were occasions where I had to fire someone for blatantly obvious reasons – cheating, stealing, neglect of duty – I also knew the impact that ‘firing’ them would have so I would extend grace as much as I could – seeking to find ways that they might learn the consequences but also how to recover and rehabilitate themselves. Love demands mercy and real love means I care enough to attempt to disciple the person – not simply throw them away!