Marriage

And he left there and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan, and crowds gathered to him again. And again, as was his custom, he taught them. And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.” And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” And in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. And he said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”
Mark 10:1–12
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Marriage
Marriage has been under attack since God created it in the Garden. The serpent saw that it was good and raged against it. Ultimately succeeding in tempting Adam and Eve to turn from God. Ever since then husbands and wives have had to struggle in their marriages. Surveying the landscape of our current culture, we can see the tragic results of the Fall continue to affect God’s people and His institutions. Society says marriage is simply a contract that can be created and dissolved with no consequences by any two consenting adults. But Jesus teaches that God wants a man and a woman in marriage to be exclusively committed to each other for life. Attempts to alter or find a loophole around God’s good intentions for marriage bring condemnation, not greater independence. As Christians, we are to thoughtfully and prayerfully embrace God’s ways. What He establishes is for our good and comes from His love and grace. Christ shows us a true picture of marriage in His relationship with His bride, the Church. May Christ be our guide in our marriages as we fix our eyes on His cross and know His love.