Jesus Teaching on Divorce
"To have and to hold from this day forward; for better or for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish until death do us part" As I sit and reflect on these powerful words, I think forward to my upcoming marriage in three short weeks. These simple, yet incredibly strong words are the cornerstone of Christian marriages; the terms of the marriage contract drawn up by God, who is the creator of man and author of the institution of marriage. " 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no man separate." (Matthew 19:5-6) So many before me have recited these words with the utmost conviction and the purest of intentions, but then after years of challenges and trying times these words end up being hollow and meaningless too many people. It amazes me to research and find that in "Canada we had a divorce rate at 45.1 % in 1998" (Stats Canada 2000) and what is even more appalling is that this number is no different whe
Jesus not only refers directly to God, but to marriage as something God does. As a result of this visit, Herod Antipas fell in love with Philip's wife Herodias who was also Herod Antipas' niece! Herodias agreed to divorce her husband and marry Antipas under the stipulation that he divorces his first wife. The big question between them is how they will go about it. This is even stronger than the language of Malachi who recorded the word of the Lord: "I hate divorce" (2:16). Jesus agreed with the Shammaite interpretation that it refers to PORNEIA "sexual indecency", and not to "indecency" and "any matter" as the Hillelites argued (Instone-Brewer 2002). The geographical background is crucial to our understanding of this encounter between Christ and the Pharisees. Understanding the "one-flesh" relationship is central to understanding the subject of marriage and divorce. Jesus concludes this excurses about God's ideal plan by pointing out how serious it is to end a marriage: "That which God has joined together, let no man separate" (Matthew 19:6, Mark 10:9). Jesus then goes to the very heart of the issue and shows that in a very real sense two people become one flesh when a marriage takes place. "About 29 AD Herod Antipas, ruler of Galilee and Perea, visited his half brother Herod Philip on his way to Rome. Perea is the same region that only a year or two earlier John the Baptist had been imprisoned and later beheaded for speaking out on the subject of divorce and remarriage (Matthew 14:1-12). Jesus digresses before he answers this question. " The way they put this further question prompted Jesus to correct another mistake they made about divorce. " (Josephus "Antiquities" XVIII 109-111) Of all the areas that Jesus could have traveled, this was sure to be one in which He will find no favor in the eyes of the magistrate. Since Jesus is traveling through Perea on His way to Jerusalem, He is in the territory and under the jurisdiction of Herod Antipas.
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Acceptance Essays
