Today’s passage covers divorce and remarriage. Jesus is chiding the people of Judea for being hardhearted in the way they cast off wives like rubbish. Today the Arab culture is still in the habit of easy, no-fault divorce, but only for men. It had become so discriminatory toward women that God had to tell Mohammad to order protections for women in divorce proceedings. Sort of the opposite of American divorce proceedings where women are offered financial security when their husbands decide to dump them.
“31 It hath been said, whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement. 32 But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.”
Boy, that looks harsh, especially by today’s standards of marriage. Let’s take a closer look in the light of the culture and the context. In spite of the fact that God viewed women and men as equal in every spiritual matter except their roles in the family and society, the men of Israel viewed women as chattel, little more than property. A woman on her own was treated as a non-person. She could only draw her identity from her husband. Under the Law of Moses, a woman was to receive protection by the writ of divorce her husband had to give her upon dissolution of the marriage. By the time of Jesus, lawyers had found ways to spin this to the advantage of men over women. It had gotten so bad that women were routinely left destitute and helpless, unable to own property in spite of the writ of divorce, and not allowed to claim ownership of their earnings should they find employment. Often women were reduced to the level of prostitution because the society would not allow them to live any other way.
Enter our Lord who saw the intent of the hearts of these men who twisted the law. He condemns the practice of divorce for financial gain, sexual variety or any other excuse that they came up with. The only thing He allowed was a divorce of a bride found to have been sexually active before marriage. Note that He doesn’t require an engaged man to break it off if his bride was sexually active, He merely allowed it.
It is interesting that one meaning of the Greek word used in this context for divorce, απολύω, is also used to denote a criminal pardon. There was no distinction in law in those days between the bondage of a criminal under punishment and a woman in a marriage. Quite often there was little difference in effect either. Jesus worked to make that change.
The solemnity of an oath is lost today, especially the oath of marriage. But in the case of marriage the dissolution of the oath does not undo the spiritual and psychoid bond between the partners. The destruction of a marriage is the most scarring thing that can be done to a human soul, no matter which partner instigates the divorce. Often this scar becomes an impediment to the spiritual growth of the victims. Therefore, divorce should not be entered into for convenience or financial considerations. Only the betrayal of the marriage vow excuses the dissolution of a marriage.
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