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Some Pharisees approached Jesus, and tested him, saying,
“Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause whatever?”
The Pharisees were expecting Jesus to say something different from what was expressed by the Torah in Deuteronomy (see Deuteronomy 24:1-4). It seemed to them that Moses had some conditions in mind under which divorce would be permitted. Perhaps Jesus would be found to be more lax, as he seemed to them to be in regard to things like his observance of Sabbath or ceremonial washings. Perhaps he would be found to be more strict, such as he seemed to them when he taught the beatitudes, condemning not only acts, but also willfully entertaining thoughts, restricting oaths, and other ways in which he internalized commandments that had heretofore required only an external observance. The Pharisees would indeed be happy for any deviation from what Moses taught. Their claim to authority was precisely that they represented as completely and accurately as possible the meanings of the teachings of Moses. They desired to show that Jesus was not a competitor to this claim, and therefore not worthy of the attention of the crowds.
He said in reply, “Have you not read
Jesus stopped the Pharisees scheme to use Moses against his position by using Moses against them, since Moses was considered to be the author of the Torah, including this passage from Genesis.
from the beginning
the Creator made them male and female and said,
For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother
and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh?
The later provision about divorce in Deuteronomy could only be properly understood in relation to what had gone before, specifically, to God's intention in creating marriage in the first place. It was not to be a union of convenience to be celebrated when it was going well, or only when it was filled with good feelings, and then abandoned when there was difficulties or dryness. It was meant to go deeper than that, to be a union of two souls so profound that no circumstances could break it. It was just not a matter of feelings, however good or bad, because it was something deeper, something God himself did that was no longer the property of each individually, something than was more than the entirety of either person alone. If the husband or the wife was always analyzing the marriage to see if it was advantageous to stay together they would often conclude that it was not. They would never achieve the selflessness and transcendence of ego that was possible when God himself joined two souls. God's purpose, then, did not admit the idea of divorce. But that did not entirely answer the Pharisees.
They said to him, “Then why did Moses command
that the man give the woman a bill of divorce and dismiss her?”
It wasn't so much that Moses gave the right to divorce, much less that by making a law he gave it approval. It was rather that he sought to regulate divorce that was in fact occurring, to rein in something that was an unfortunate reality because "of the hardness of your hearts", as Jesus said. But with the arrival of Jesus hard hearts could be brought to life once more and this temporary acquiescence to the fallenness of humankind was no longer necessary. Moses said what he said because he himself had no power to transform the heart. However, in a breathtaking statement by Jesus himself superseded the authority of Moses to reestablish marriage to fulfill its original purpose.
but from the beginning it was not so.
I say to you, whoever divorces his wife
(unless the marriage is unlawful)
and marries another commits adultery.
Even the disciples of Jesus, it seemed, where hoping for something easier than this. They, much like our modern world sensed all of the difficulties that could befall a marriage, perceived correctly that to marry was not easy, and reasoned that without the escape route of divorce on the table it was better not to marry. But what they did not yet seem to perceive was that living marriage as Jesus understood it would also include the grace to do so, that it would in fact be God himself who joined couples together, creating a union beyond what their own combined strength could ever achieve.
It is important for us to understand God's intention for marriage not only for marriage on the human level. It is also important because God's purpose for the human race is to treat us as a bride, with Jesus himself as the bridegroom. We are meant to learn what is meant by covenant fidelity, by a union of which we ourselves are not the source, and which no circumstances or emotions can take from us. Each couple that lives out fidelity to marriage becomes a sign of the way in which God is faithful to us and how we in turn are meant to respond. This sort of sign shines forth even more clearly in difficult times, though it is evident in the good times as well. The Lord calls us to a union which we ourselves do not have the strength to create or maintain. But if we give ourselves to it he himself will bring it about, and even our failures need not damage it beyond repair.
Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you when you were a girl,
and I will set up an everlasting covenant with you
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