DAILY READING
REFLECTION
Marriage Reaffirmed
by Ken Dillman
Marriage is a sacred contract of love, dedication, and devotion between a man and woman that was created by God in Genesis 1:27; in today’s text in Luke 16:18, Jesus reaffirms that sacredness of marriage.
A casual reading of the text might lead us to believe that Jesus’ teaching on marriage and divorce is somewhat out of place, as though Luke simply dropped Jesus’ teaching in the middle of the chapter because he had some extra space he wanted to fill.
Jesus also taught the sacredness of marriage in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:32, then in Matthew 19 he adds deep clarity to why he had to remind the Jewish people of God’s design for marriage.
A large crowd had been following Jesus, when some Pharisees approached him and asked, “Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?” (Matt. 19:3) The Pharisees question would fit in our culture today; there are a litany of reason on our books of law for which divorce is permitted.
The question asked of Jesus by the Pharisees has its roots in Deuteronomy 24, where Moses writes, “When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and she departs out of his house.” (Deut. 24:1-2)
Though Moses’ intent was to also illustrate the sacredness of marriage, some religious leaders throughout Judaism interpreted what Moses said as meaning, a man could divorce his wife if she burned dinner or put too much salt in the soup. Consequently, divorce became somewhat common.
Jesus responded to the Pharisees saying, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female” and “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his 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.” (Matt. 19:4-6)
The Pharisees follow Jesus’ remarks by saying, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” Jesus replied, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.” (Matt. 19:7-9)
Moses seemingly allowed divorce because the peoples’ hearts were hard in two ways; first, toward a woman that had somehow displeased her husband, but not through infidelity, and second, their hearts were hard toward God and his laws.
People wanted to live life their way, disregarding the fact that God has a moral claim on their life. Unfortunately, our culture is very much like the Jewish culture during Jesus’ time. It’s no wonder that Jesus’ first sermons and messages were “repent.” (Matt. 4:17)
When Luke inserts Jesus’ teaching in the middle of this chapter, he sandwiched it between two stories; the first being a story about a manager who’s about to be fired because he’s a lazy thief, so he goes to his master’s debtors and substantially reduces what they owe the master. The second being the story of the rich man and a beggar named Lazarus; Lazarus dies and is in heaven with Abraham and the rich man dies and ends up in Hades, because of how he lived a life of selfishness.
When taken together, all of Jesus’ teachings in Chapter 16, illustrate just how much the Jewish people had turned from following God’s laws and how the country’s morals had been compromised.
Luke was an astute historian, doctor, and an inspired writer of the gospel; he wasn’t capricious in what he wrote, but rather gave the future readers, like us, a more full-orbed understanding of Jesus’ teachings on the sacredness of marriage.
PRAYER
God, I know that we all have strayed from your Word. Forgive us for using societal ways to live their way and not your way. Help us to see marriage as you meant it. Help us always cherish our spouses. Amen.
My wife, Karen and I have been attending UALC for 6-7 years and enjoy God's presence in our gatherings. We live in Hilliard; our three adult children live in Central Ohio. I am a retired Chaplain and Pastor, and enjoy writing, walking, jogging, and listening to live music. I appreciate the opportunity to write for the church’s devotionals.
