Show Don't Tell: Mark 10:1-12

Instead of saying "Jesus taught about divorce," feel the test approach. Jesus goes to the region of Judea and across the Jordan; again crowds gather, and as usual he teaches them. Some Pharisees come and test him: "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" They know the debate between Rabbi Shammai (divorce only for adultery) and Rabbi Hillel (divorce for any reason). "What did Moses command you?" "Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away." "It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law. But at the beginning of creation God 'made them male and female.' 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate." In the house, the disciples ask again. "Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery." Genesis intent trumps Mosaic concession.