My brothers and sisters, many times I am puzzled by what I read and try to understand what is in a specific Bible verse. I wonder how to apply it to me. And I know that I will never completely understand it all as I do not have the complexities of God within me to know it all. I give it all to God and pray that He reveals what I need to know in the time that I need to know it. It is for this reason I am reversing the order of the scriptures this week, a reverse focus if you will. Faith is an issue of trust, trusting in God to open our hearts and minds for greater understanding to God’s mission.
The Gospel of Mark 10:2-16 2)Some Pharisees came up to Jesus, testing Him, and began to question Him whether it was lawful for a man to divorce a wife. 3)And He answered and said to them, “What did Moses command you?” 4)They said, “Moses permitted a man TO WRITE A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE AND SEND her AWAY.” 5)But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. 6)”But from the beginning of creation, God MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE. 7)”FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER, 8)AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH; so they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9)”What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.” 10)In the house the disciples began questioning Him about this again. 11)And He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her; 12)and if she herself divorces her husband and marries another man, she is committing adultery.” This topic is a division giving one. Let’s look at the whole thing here. Jesus says that the exception was given to them because of the hardness of their hearts meaning what? That perhaps they hadn’t found the right person when they married. That although married the two had not become one? God made man and woman, together they work as one, they complete each other for the will of God to be brought forth. It’s possible for all sorts of assumptions to be made when we marry, finding God in the other person before making that commitment is wise, but not always easy to see. I see the seriousness in this decision. God want’s us to be as one, these days it is tough and such a blessing when it does happen.
The First Reading Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:5-12 1:1)God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2)In these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. 3)And he is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4)having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they. 2:5)For He did not subject to angels the world to come, concerning which we speaking. 6)But one has testified somewhere, saying, “WHAT IS MAN, THAT YOU REMEMBER HIM? OR THAT SON OF MAN, THAT YOU ARE CONCERNED ABOUT HIM? 7)”YOU HAVE MADE HIM FOR A L ITTLE WHILE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS; YOU HAVE CROWNED HIM WITH GLORY AND HONOR, AND HAVE APPOINTED HIM OVER THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS; 8)YOU HAVE PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET.” For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him. 9)But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. 10)For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. 11)For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctify and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, 12)saying, “I WILL PROCLAIM YOUR NAME TO MY BRETHREN IN THE MIDST OF THE CONGREGATION I WILL SING YOUR PRAISE. There is a lot to unpack here. First the acknowledgement of who Jesus is, how He reflects the attributes of God the Father. Why He was sent to earth, how in doing that He was temporarily lower than the angels, bore death, walked among the dead and raised from that to sit at the right hand of the majestic God the Father. All, everything is subject to Him! In His sanctification and who He sanctifies are all from one Father which He shamelessly calls them His brothers.
Psalms 8 1)O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth, who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens! 2)From the mouths of infants and nursing babes You have established strength because of Your adversaries, to make the enemy and the revengeful cease. 3)When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained; 4)What is man that You take thought of him, and the son of man that You care for him? 5(Yet You have made him a little lower than God, and You crown him with glory and majesty! 6)You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, 7)All sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, 8)The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, whatever passes through the paths of the seas. 9)O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth! A point of mentioning Jesus as the son of man, a call for why God cares for us, His creation.
Genesis 2:18-24 18)Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” 19)Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brough them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. 20)The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. 21)So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. 22)The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. 23)The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” 24)For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother; and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. So this was the intention of God, man and woman together in one flesh, a suitable helper for man, God’s creation
So back to the Pharisees who brought this topic up. What was their motive, just to stir things up because they knew the Bible? That they may have been trying to embarrass Jesus. When Jesus’s disciples started on the same questions, to me it means there is no easy answer to this question.
Through Christ, Seek God,
D.J. Schoneweis