City Life Starter

Written by Megan Meier

The Word

18 “Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.”

Luke 16:18 ESV

Reflection

In this conversation, Jesus is talking to the Pharisees, who previously were sneering at Jesus for saying loving money is a sin (Luke 16:14). They were also looking for a “godly” reason to divorce their wives (Matthew 19:3), which back then was a male prerogative. Deuteronomy 24:1 states “indecency” was grounds for a man to divorce his wife, when God gave this command to Moses, He meant sexual immorality (Matthew 19:9). As Pastor Chris said in this week’s message, the Pharisees were looking for loopholes to justify getting what they wanted. Deuteronomy 24:1 had been misinterpreted by several rabbis in Jesus’ day to mean not only sexual immorality, but also minor matters, such as the wife burning dinner or the husband finding someone more attractive to hang out with (BibleProject Scholarship Team, 2024). The “righteous” Pharisees completely ignored Malachi 2:16 (NIV):

16 “‘The man who hates and divorces his wife,’” says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘does violence to the one he should protect,’ says the Lord Almighty. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful.”

The NIV version of Matthew 19:9 says divorce makes the woman commit adultery, because back then, women couldn’t have careers or their own bank accounts, they were their husband’s property. If their husbands threw them out, forget alimony or splitting the assets half-and-half, they had to get remarried as a husband was their meal ticket. Jesus says in Matthew 5:32, the man who initiates the divorce causes his ex-wife to commit adultery because she has to get remarried for financial stability, she would have a much more difficult time doing so because she’s a “victim of adultery” (NIV version).

Jesus is calling the Pharisees out for their selfishness and to instead be responsible for themselves and their marriages; to protect their wives as Malachi instructed.

In today’s verse, Jesus also calls out men who marry divorced women, why? It’s not her fault her husband kicked her out, isn’t the man doing the right thing, like Boaz marrying Ruth? In this very collective and very close-knit society, no. The man was expected to call out the ex-husband and get him to reconcile with his wife, thus protecting their marriage and the wife’s honor. And just to clarify, Jesus isn’t calling out re-marriage, He is calling out wife-swapping. Jesus exposes what’s in the Pharisees’ hearts, that they treat women like objects, or like iPhones, when a new one comes out they just trade their current one in.

BibleProject (2024) describes how God sees divorce: as a parent sees radiation. If a child says to their parent, “Mom, Dad, radiation looks cool, everybody else is playing with it, can I play with it too?” the parent will yell, “No! Radiation can hurt and kill you! Stay away from it!”. But if the child had cancer and the doctor says the only hope of survival is radiation treatment, the parent will choose that without a millisecond’s hesitation. Radiation will definitely harm some healthy cells but it will get rid of the life-threatening cancer. Jesus doesn’t condone divorce, He allows it in extenuating circumstances, like adultery or abuse.   

Application

Jesus never gave a comprehensive teaching on the ethics of divorce and remarriage, He talked a lot more about love and forgiveness and the Kingdom of God, subjects the Pharisees deliberately overlooked (Matthew 23:25-28). Yesterday Efe wrote that Jesus called out the Pharisees on their hypocrisy regarding the Law. They were highly educated men who knew the Torah backwards and forwards, they knew deep down divorcing for petty reasons was wrong. Even today, parts of God’s Word have been mistranslated or even outright ignored to fit the world’s values. God will never ask you to do something that is against His Word. If you are confused about a certain Bible verse or passage, don’t just dismiss it, ask questions: research the meaning (Hebrew or Greek, maybe both), what was happening socio-politically, who was the audience, what were their values, and what does it mean for you now?

Prayer

Dear Lord, I’m sorry for misinterpreting or ignoring Your Word to fit my own desires. Grant me clarity and an open heart when I read Your Word. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

Reference

BibleProject Scholarship Team. (2024, April 29). Divorce in the Bible: How jesus responded to the debate. Study the Story of the Bible With Free Tools.

https://bibleproject.com/articles/divorce-bible-how-jesus-responded-debate/