Friends in Christ Weekly Message
October 6, 2012

Pharisees came up, intending to give him a hard time. They asked, “Is it legal for a man to divorce his wife?”
     Jesus said, “What did Moses command?”
     They answered, “Moses gave permission to fill out a certificate of dismissal and divorce her.”
     Jesus said, “Moses wrote this command only as a concession to your hardhearted ways. In the original creation, God made male and female to be together. Because of this, a man leaves father and mother, and in marriage he becomes one flesh with a woman - no longer two individuals, but forming a new unity. Because God created this organic union of the two sexes, no one should desecrate his art by cutting them apart.”
Mark 10:2-9 (Message*)

We live in a society where divorce is very common. Statistics show it is as common among churchgoers as among those who do not profess a faith.

Jesus here reaffirms the principle enunciated in the first two chapters of Genesis - that we were made to partner, and become one upon marriage. Marriage is a divine gift that we should celebrate and not desecrate. I have experienced this great gift for more than 35 years. How can I not be grateful?

Just this week I was talking to a colleague, and I asked how she was. She started to give me a perfunctory answer, and then quickly reconsidered and trusted me with the truth. She said things were fine at work, but at home her husband had left her for another woman. Her pain was palpable. How many such sad cases there are, where at least one partner fails to treasure the great gift of marriage and desecrates this blessing from God.

Dear reader, if God has blessed you with a spouse, do you treasure this gift from God and treat your partner as a blessing? Do you nurture this union so that it grows through all the stages of life? Do you have compassion for those whose union has been broken, and come along side those close to you who are suffering the pain of a broken marriage?

Bill Samuel

* The Message version ©2002 by Eugene H. Peterson.

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