Day 304 (Matthew 19, Mark 10) - Year 4
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Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap. For a lot of you, today's reading may have hit a tender spot, because Jesus touches on something that's really personal. One of the things this shows us is that there's no area of our lives that is untouched by God, no space He's restricted from or inactive in or that He doesn't care about and have plans for. That's one of the things about sovereignty. It knows no bounds. Sovereign means over all.

So when Jesus launches out with a sermon on divorce, some of you may have felt yourselves tense up. It's okay. He can be trusted. And if you read through his words and found that you didn't live up to them somehow, welcome to the club. The club is called humanity because that's all of us. We all fall short of Jesus' teachings. Which is why he came to pay for our sins because he knows we're not going to nail it. And he doesn't just pay for our sins, he takes our shame. Romans 8.1 says, "...there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

So if you read through his teaching on divorce and felt ashamed, that is not what God speaks over you. That's either a lie from the enemy or a lie from the pride of your own flesh. And you can rebuke both of those enemies with the truth God speaks over you. Despite all the wrongs we've done, he paid for our sins. He carries our sorrows. He takes away our shame.

So let's see what he says about divorce. The Pharisees approach him one day and ask him a question that could be interpreted one of two ways in English. I don't know if the question is quite as slippery in Greek, but this definitely feels like a trap right off the bat. They ask, is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any reason? This could mean, are there any circumstances at all under which divorce is acceptable? But it could also mean, can we divorce our wives for any old reason we want?

Typically, the Pharisees are the ones who build a fence around the law, adding on to God's laws with their own traditions. But remember that they also sometimes choose to ignore God's laws when it serves their own purposes, like with honoring their parents. And the thing that usually determines whether they're adding or subtracting from God's law is whether or not it's an inconvenience to them personally. Where they've added to God's laws with their own traditions, Jesus breaks those traditions to show they're not the law.

Where they've subtracted from God's law, Jesus always dials it back in and points to the heart. And here, with the laws regarding divorce, it seems like the Pharisees had loosened the reins on God's law, so Jesus dials it back in. And as he often does, Jesus points out that God's standard is actually higher than the law. It goes to the heart.

Moses allowed men to divorce their wives if their wives were unfaithful, but only because the men's hearts were hard. The goal is not hardness of heart. The goal is a soft heart. According to Jesus, divorce wouldn't have been an issue if people had soft hearts. That definitely sounds like a utopian society, right? I know. But God is always pointing back to our hearts. He doesn't want begrudging obedience. His disciples ask him about this later. They're like,

Wow, Jesus, that's pretty strict stuff. Sounds like we're better off staying single. And he basically says, you're right, it is a tough teaching. If it's too tough for you, you should definitely stay single. And if you can handle that, do it. God promises to help you. The reality is either path is a tough path.

Different churches and faith traditions have different teachings on divorce and on remarriage. Some say it's one unified issue, while others say they're two separate issues. They're certainly adjacent to each other, though, especially in Jesus' day. At the time, a woman was often unable to support herself without a husband to provide for her. So being divorced almost forced her into a situation where she had to be remarried in order to survive. So Jesus addresses this too.

In Mark 10, 11-12, he touches briefly on remarriage, and Paul reiterates this later in 1 Corinthians 7, 10-11. He says,

Some say Paul leaves the door open for remarriage later in verses 12-15 when he says, To the rest I say, I, not the Lord. If the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases, the brother or sister is not enslaved. Some believe that when Paul says they aren't enslaved, he's indicating that they're free to remarry, while others believe he's indicating that they aren't bound to stay married. And still others point out that Paul is clear here on what is his opinion versus what is God's law.

Again, these aren't easy teachings either way. In fact, some say these are some of the most challenging words Jesus ever speaks. And I think it feels so weighty because it's so close to our hearts. It's not like he's talking about paying taxes. This is our hearts. But that's what he's always been after, isn't it? So it's fitting that he would address these things.

Then he goes straight from married to children. People are bringing their kids to him and asking him to pray for them. Like we've talked about before, most ancient cultures, not just Jewish culture, didn't prioritize children. But Jesus shows them special value and attention. He treats them with dignity and honor. This is also one of the first places in Scripture where we see Jesus laying hands on people to pray for them and bless them. It's not like blessings travel exclusively through his hands. In fact, we've seen him do long-distance healings a few times.

But this was the traditional way of passing a blessing to a person. If you are with us in the Old Testament, you may remember this from stories like Jacob and Esau or Ephraim and Manasseh. Laying hands on a person isn't a magic trick. It's a way of connecting with the person to show the unity of the body of Christ and to indicate focused personal attention.

All that to say, if you're like me and you grew up in a faith tradition that didn't practice laying on hands, this situation may sound weird, but it's totally normal. Finally, we see the two brothers, James and John, asking Jesus for a favor. He keeps talking about his eternal kingdom, and they're like, that sounds awesome. We want to sit on your right hand and your left hand in the kingdom.

I honestly think it was probably hard for Jesus to keep from laughing because this is such a ridiculous request. Jesus is seated at the right hand of God the Father. So first of all, the Father is at Jesus' left hand. So I can't imagine him being like, Sorry, Father, this seat's safer, James. Can you scooch over?

So when Jesus responds to them, he says, I mean, you guys aren't able to do what that requires. Can you do what is required of me? And they're like, yeah, totally. Can you imagine? Then he tells them in his veiled way, you're kind of right. You will die and be persecuted like me, but I'm not in charge of those details. And the answer is still no. This serves as a good reminder for us that even two of the three guys in Jesus' inner circle get a no to something they ask him for.

My God shot today was in verses 43 through 45 where Jesus says,

We touched on this yesterday, how even his taking is giving. Even by saying no to the requests of James and John, Jesus is giving them something better. They just couldn't understand that at the time. There is zero chance that when they enter the kingdom and see Jesus seated at the right hand of the Father Almighty, they'll be like, hey, that's my seat. They'll realize in retrospect that no was the best response to this request.

Even in taking that possibility away from them, Jesus is serving them and giving them something better. God is always doing what is eternally best for his kids. God is too efficient to have something that's best for one person but not so great for another. In the grand scheme of things, whatever is best for John is best for James, is best for Andrew, is best for you. He is always serving all of us, and he always gives the best gifts. He is where the joy is.

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