Today’s Sermon:

Mark 10:1-12, “Trying To Trick Jesus, The Pharisees Ask Him If It Is Lawful For A Man To Divorce His

Wife”

by Pastor Jim Bomkamp

Jesus crosses over the Jordan and teaches the multitude who come to Him

Putting him to the test, some Pharisees ask Jesus if it is lawful

for a man to divorce his wife

Divorce wrecks the lives of multitudes of people every day

Was Jesus politically correct?

We must keep in mind always that marriage is an institution that was

created by God

Mark 10:1-9

Some Pharisees ask Jesus if it is lawful for a man to divorce his wife

In Jesus’ day, divorce was very common. Men would and could

divorce their wives for any reason.

Moses had permitted a man to legally divorce his wife by simply

writing up a divorce decree document – Deut. 24:1-4

“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 indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out from his house, 2 and she leaves his house and goes and becomes another man’s wife, 3 and if the latter husband turns against her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her to be his wife, 4 then her former husband who sent her away is not allowed to take her again to be his wife, since she has been defiled; for that is an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance.”

The Test

The Pharisees ask Jesus if it is ‘lawful’ for a man to ‘divorce’ his wife, and depending upon Jesus’ answer here are several potential

ways they could accuse Him.

Ways they could accuse Jesus:

1. Accuse Him to Herod Antipas

2. Accuse Him of saying the law of Moses was not authoritative

3. Accuse Him of blasphemy if He said the Law did not permit divorce

4. Accuse Him of siding with one of the two rabbis and thus divide His influence

5. Accuse Him to the multitudes if He made a pro-divorce statement

Because Jesus’ answer to this question has a huge impact on our

lives as believers, especially because divorce is so prevalent

and destructive today

At this website, http://www.divorcestatistics.org/,

I found these divorce statistics

Approximately 50% of all marriages in America will end in divorce

Divorce statistics (in percent) Divorce statistics (in percent)

First Marriage 45% to 50% marriages end in divorce

Second Marriage 60% to 67% marriages end in divorce

Third Marriage 60% to 67% marriages end in divorce

Statistics about divorce in America and how children from broken homes are

affected: http://www.divorcereform.org/all.html :

1. Children of divorce are twice as likely to drop out of school as those from intact homes.

2. Three times as apt to have a baby out of wedlock.

3. Five-fold more likely to be in poverty and 12 times more apt to be incarcerated.

4. Judith Wallerstein followed 100 children of divorce for 25 years after parental divorce. Only 60 of the 100, now aged 27-43, had ever married vs. 84 percent of those from intact families. And 25 of the 60 had already divorced, leaving only a third who built lasting marriages.

Statistics (continued…)

5. The sons of single parents are more prone to commit suicide as adults than others, and daughters are more likely to have abortions and more children. The risk of suicide doubled if sons were raised by single parents.

6. When compared with people who grew up in a traditional family with both parents, children of single parents are hospitalized more often due to injuries and poisonings.

7. The sons of single parents also commit more crimes.

8. The family background of childhood is connected to problems in adulthood, such as physical illnesses, premature death and crime.

9. Men who grew up in broken families are less likely to wed and have a lower opinion of marriage and of parenthood than those from intact families.

10. children of divorce are 62% more likely to no longer identify with the faith of their parents when they grow up

Statistics from

http://www.divorcereform.org/crime.html#anchor590488:

1. A survey of 108 rapists undertaken by Raymond A. Knight and Robert A. Prentky revealed that 60 percent came from female-headed homes,. 70 percent of those describable as 'violent' came from female-headed homes. 80 percent of those motivated by 'displaced anger' came from female-headed (single-parent) homes.

2. Of the juvenile criminals who are a threat to the public, three-fourths came from broken homes.

3. "A study of Stanford University's Center for the Study of Youth Development in 1985 indicated that children in single-parent families headed by a mother have higher arrest rates, more disciplinary problems in school, and a greater tendency to smoke and run away from home than do their peers who live with both natural parents - no matter what their income, race, or ethnicity."

Jesus’ answer: God’s intentions

1. Jesus first explains to them that this decree in Deuteronomy chapter 24 was given to them by Moses not as God’s ideal for their lives, but: ‘Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment.’

2. God made them ‘male and female’ that they might become married and be ‘one flesh’ with each other.

3. The importance of “leaving and cleaving” in marriage

4. If God has joined a married couple together that no one should ever try to separate them: ‘What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate’.

Mark 10:10-12

The disciples question Jesus further about this later

Acceptable reasons for divorce:

1. Your spouse has committed fornication: Matthew 5:32

2. Unbelieving spouse abandons you: 1 Corinthians 7:13-16

3. Death of your spouse: Rom. 7:1–3

Conclusions:

1. Follow Jesus’ lead and don’t be a man pleaser, but rather do all you do to be pleasing to your Father in heaven.

2. Remember that marriage was meant by God to be for life, and therefore you must not take the commitment of marriage lightly.

3. Remember the consequences of divorce as well as God’s intention that the marriage bond is meant to be for life.