Divisive Truth

Truth As Discussion

The Pharisees’ Question

Matthew 19:3 NKJV

3 The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?”

This is an incendiary question

Human relationships have always been complicated by human frailties

Divorce has always been dicey

there have always been those who allowed it in any case

there have always been those who allowed it in some cases

there have always been those who disallowed it

The question, though posed by conservatives, was asked from the most liberal perspective

Jesus’ Answer

Matthew 19:4–6 NKJV

4 And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ 5 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’? 6 So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

Jesus knows, and makes clear that He knows, that they already know the answer

Jesus answers using the Bible’s words (verse 5 is a quote of Ge. 2:24) and then applying them in a way that is both consistent and obvious

The Pharisees’ Challenge

Matthew 19:7 NKJV

7 They said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?”

Moses did allow for divorce in Deuteronomy 24:1 “1 “When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some uncleanness in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house,”

This allowance can be interpreted in two ways:

A man finds uncleanness (shame related to nakedness) in her and is thus she finds no favor in his eyes - this is the clear intent of the text

it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes - this is the more expansive, more popular view

Jesus’ Clarification

Matthew 19:8–9 NKJV

8 He said to them, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.”

Taken as a whole, we can see God’s view on divorce: He is against it.

Physical union creates a spiritual bond

That spiritual bond should not be broken

Divorce is only tolerable when that spiritual bond has already been broken

Divorce is never God’s first choice, even when their has been infidelity

Divorce was added because of “the hardness of your heart” in other words, because we want what we want more than we want what God wants.

The Disciples’ Reaction

Matthew 19:10 NKJV

10 His disciples said to Him, “If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry.”

The Disciples overreact, to put it mildly.

Jesus’ Response

Matthew 19:11–12 NKJV

11 But He said to them, “All cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given: 12 For there are eunuchs who were born thus from their mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He who is able to accept it, let him accept it.”

The Disciples were overreacting but Jesus used even that. God’s desire is that we would be more focused on what He wants than on what we want, even when that desire is “extreme” by human feelings.

At the end of the day, what Jesus said was not all that difficult to understand. We may not like it, and we may argue against it, but we can’t say that we don’t understand it. But the truth of what God says about divorce is not the whole story in this section.

Truth As Division

Jesus Was Healing

Matthew 19:1–2 NKJV

1 Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these sayings, that He departed from Galilee and came to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. 2 And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them there.

The Pharisees Were Interrupting

Matthew 19:3 NKJV

3 The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?”

Their question wasn’t just a question, “testing him”

The word translated test means to examine and can be used in a positive/neutral way

The word can also be uses in a hostile way, typically designed to tempt someone to sin

Context here clarifies their hostility

Their question was an attempt to get Jesus to sin publicly

Jesus would not sin, but they didn’t know that

sin is missing the mark and their are many marks

Jesus’ own mark, healing (their question did stop that)

The Crowd’s mark, appeal (the answer caused the disciples to overreact, what did it do to the crowd?)

Their question was pretty successful in that it derailed what Jesus was doing

Jesus was adding to the number of His followers

Those healed were often inclined to follow Him

The Pharisees were subtracting from the number of His followers

Those offended were often inclined to not follow Him

Truth As Diversion

Matthew 19:13–15 NKJV

13 Then little children were brought to Him that He might put His hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them. 14 But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” 15 And He laid His hands on them and departed from there.

You look at what the Disciples are doing here and you really scratch your head and have to wonder just how dense where they? Didn’t Jesus just speak about children? What in the world is going on here?

Jesus was important

leads some to think He is too important for children to be around

leads others to realize He is too important for children not to be around

The context: an adult conversation of incredibly important, divisive truth

Even if children should be around Jesus

This may not be the best time for them to be here to see and hear this

They could interrupt

They could “hear something:

The command: Jesus was pretty clear, “Let the little children come to Me”

We (the church) frequently follow the Disciples’ actions rather than Jesus’ command when it comes to children. This is one of the reasons that we have adopted a family-style ministry: segregating children into their own church setting is doing exactly what the Disciples did.

Conclusion

There is more going on in this text than the discussion of unpopular truth. We see how Jesus handled unpopular truth.

He led with healing, not divisiveness

He was clear about what the God said, even in the face of resistance

He was focused on His priorities and didn’t let popular opinion or resistance interfere