Thy Strong Word — Matthew 19:1-15. Unbelievable mercy to unbelievable sinners: Back to the Word concerning divorce.

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Rev. Dr. Brian Saunders, District President of the Iowa East District of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod joins Rev. Brady Finnern to study Matthew 19:1-15.

The Pharisees were testing Jesus to trip him up concerning divorce by misquoting the Bible. Divorce has affected all of us and the sin that has caused it leaves a trail of pain. Jesus brings them back to the beginning by showing that marriage is a gift from the LORD of a husband and wife. The life of the Christian is a life of repentance and forgiveness and the same applies to the married couple. The most important three words in a Christian marriage is not “I love you” but “I forgive you.” The married couple, those who have been divorced, the extended family, the single person all live in the hope not in our strength or perfection, but in the forgiveness won for us in Christ. “Lord God, keep us steadfast in Your Word. Thank you for the gift of marriage that reflects Your love for the church and uplifts us in body and soul. Bless all marriages to holiness, give healing to those affected by divorce, and grant us the gift of repentance that we may receive Your forgiveness and live holy lives by word and deed. In Christ, Amen”

Thy Strong Word reveals the light of our salvation in Christ through study of God’s Word, breaking our darkness with His redeeming light. Each weekday, two pastors fix our eyes on Jesus by considering Holy Scripture, verse by verse, in order to be strengthened in the Word and be equipped to faithfully serve in our daily vocations.

Thy Strong Word is hosted by Rev. Brady Finnern, pastor of Messiah Lutheran Church in Sartell, MN, and graciously underwritten by the Lutheran Heritage Foundation.

Matthew 19:1-15

Teaching About Divorce

19 Now when Jesus had finished these sayings, he went away from Galilee and entered the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. 2 And large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.

3 And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” 4 He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” 7 They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” 8 He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed 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.”[a]

10 The disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” 11 But he said to them, “Not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. 12 For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.”

Let the Children Come to Me

13 Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, 14 but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” 15 And he laid his hands on them and went away.

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Footnotes

Matthew 19:9 Some manuscripts add and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery; other manuscripts except for sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery