Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
In Mark 10:6-9, Jesus deals with the Pharisees’ attempt to cause trouble: “But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; and they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What God therefore hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” No one, not even the hypercritical and hypocritical Pharisees, could possibly find fault with Jesus’ affirmation of the high value of marriage. Once again, Jesus directs attention to the authority of the Word of God, quoting from Genesis 1:27 (verse 6) and Genesis 2:24 (verses 7-8). The conclusion in verse 9 contrasts the ways of “man” (notably, in the immediate context, the misogyny of the Pharisees) and the ways of “God.” God’s high view of marriage is further revealed by the comparison of Ephesians 5:31-32: “For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” The marital relationship of believers is thus likened to the relationship between Jesus and the Church (called the “bride” in Revelation 21:2). Despite these compelling statements, a troubling trend today is marriage with the idea of divorce already in view. Not too long ago, I read a secular study on this issue that showed that people who entered marriage with this negative attitude were much more likely to divorce – and to divorce much more quickly. We should not be surprised by this sad outcome. We cannot change how others choose to view marriage, but we can make sure that our assessment of marriage lines up with God’s.