Divorce Is Not The Problem...

Some Pharisees came and tried to trap him with this question: “Should a man be allowed to divorce his wife?” Jesus answered them with a question: “What did Moses say in the law about divorce?” “Well, he permitted it,” they replied. “He said a man can give his wife a written notice of divorce and send her away.” But Jesus responded, “He wrote this commandment only as a concession to your hard hearts. But ‘God made them male and female’ from the beginning of creation. ‘This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.’ Since they are no longer two but one, let no one split apart what God has joined together.” [Mark 10.2-9]

To get a divorce is to openly confess and display a hard heart. Divorce is not the problem - a hard heart is.

The Bible says nothing good about a hard heart. Jesus spoke often about the condition of a hard heart and it was never good. The Apostle Paul and the writer of Hebrews also spoke clearly about the hard heart.

The fact that divorce remains a plague upon society is a testament of the hard heartedness of society. Yes, there is a larger problem than divorce! Divorce simply reveals the presence of hard heartedness.

Should we not explore what this condition of a hard heart is in depth?

Jesus said this:

For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes— so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them.’ [Matthew 13.15]

It would seem a hard heart has everything to do with faith (or, the lack thereof).

Whatever we do, we should focus on not having a hard heart! According to Jesus in Matthew 13.15, the remedy for a hard heart is to listen to the Word of God and to see the Word of God in Christ so our hearts might understand. And, just as divorce reveals a hard heart, healing reveals a soft heart.

According to Jesus, a soft heart is very easy to detect - as easy as detecting a previously lame man walking or a previously blind man seeing!

Wow.

Father, may my heart be softened by You Word and by Your Son Jesus as I listen and see Your Word in Jesus. So be it.