Sunday Sermon - August 23, 2026 - Gospel of Mark 10:1-12 Divorce

 As we have seen Jesus has started to touch on some personal subjects, and these have come out during discussions with others and with His disciples. These open types of discussions are very normative in the Middle Eastern culture of the 1^st century and still very much today. As we stated before our Roman Reader would have also recognized such public debates and discussion, the practice was very much the norm. Sadly, this has become something that the modern American cannot seem to stomach. Either the person cannot defend their views, they just want to force those views onto others, and they do this by means of shaming to outright violence, because they believe that nonacceptance is violence towards them, hence they feel justified using violence against others. This is a form of not only intellectual terrorism, but it also becomes actual terrorism when those who are offended decide that they are justified in the use of violence to silence others. And because of this many Christians have withdrawn from the public defense of the faith, once again withdrawing into the walls of the church, much to the joy of Satan. Satan loves it when even one Christian’s ability to witness for Christ becomes silent. It makes his job so much easier.

Thankfully Jesus is not easily intimidated.

Mark 10:1 And he left there and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan, and crowds gathered to him again. And again, as was his custom, he taught them.

Mark 10:2 And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”

We have Jesus once again having a discussion that in which He is teaching Biblical truths, and within that group are Pharisees, and they present themselves from out of the crowd and step forward with a challenging question. But the test was to see which side Jesus would come down on. See there were two views on the Old Testament teaching on divorce found in Deuteronomy 24:1-4.

This is taken from Warren Weirsbe’s Be Commentary Gospel of Mark page 121

          “In that day there were two conflicting views on divorce, and which view you espoused depended on how you interpreted the phrase “some uncleanness” in Deuteronomy 24:1–4. The followers of Rabbi Hillel were quite lenient in their interpretation and permitted a man to divorce his wife for any reason, even the burning of his food. But the school of Rabbi Shimmai was much more strict and taught that the critical words “some uncleanness” referred only to premarital sin. If a newly married husband discovered that his wife was not a virgin, then he could put her away.”

The Pharisees were setting up a Kobayashi Maru for you Star Trek fans, a no win scenario. But Jesus is smarter than the Pharisees, naturally, and He sees this gotcha question for what it is, and Jesus gives us the means by which to answer gotcha questions raised by others today.

Mark 10:3 He answered them, “What did Moses command you?”

In other words, what does the scripture say. See when you answer a question with a question, especially a question that has a theological framework, the best and simplest answer is to ask them what does the Bible say? Tell me about your understanding from the scriptures. Now most of the time people want to argue their type of philosophy, their view of the world, their opinion, this is what I think. Well, not to be ugly, but what you think, really does not matter, it is what God thinks and what He has revealed in His Word that matters. So, Jesus gives them the answer with the question that we should also use. What does the Bible say?

By the way, if they say, well I do not care what the Bible says, there is no reason to continue the conversation. When they say that, you say well I am sorry to hear that, but there is no reason for us to continue this conversation. If you do not care what God has said, nothing I will say will make any difference to you.

Mark 10:4 They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.”

I want you to notice that this is a very minimalist answer. The Pharisee does not want to give away his point of view on the matter, hence he merely responses with the methodology, you give her a piece of paper and send her on her way.

Mark 10:5 And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment.

Notice that Jesus makes this very personal, see if Jesus did not want to personally offend the Pharisees, He would have said it like this…

“Because of the hardness of their hearts he wrote them this commandment.

But Jesus did not say that Jesus used first person, personal pronouns, and He did it on purpose.

Why? Because these same Pharisees had been using this means of divorce to leave their wife and marry another woman. Hence Jesus points that out to them, by using the first-person personal pronoun, Jesus is telling them, yes, I know what you have been doing, yes, I know that you have divorced your first wife, or even a couple of wives, you have given them a piece of paper and sent them on their way. And what makes this even more evil is that these women have no means by which to support themselves unless they remarry, so it was seen a merciful to give them a piece of paper that says they were divorced so that if another man wanted them, it was legal for them to marry.

This is how and evil tyrannical religious organization works, it uses the law for their own means, it makes itself loopholes by which it can seem as if they are doing things on the up and up all the while ignoring the purpose of the law, and the prophets which was to teach us how to love the Lord thy God will all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love others as yourself, that is the purpose of the law and the prophets, it is not the purpose of the law to be manipulated by men in positions of power to justify their sinful behavior. Hence why Jesus says what He says.

Because of YOUR hardness of heart, he wrote YOU this commandment.

And now Jesus is going to tell them why they are wrong.

Jesus is now going to not only properly interpret Deuteronomy 24:1-4, He is going to give us clear categories by which we know the parameters that He is using. These are clear, it is the simple reading of the text that we can discern the meaning.

Mark 10:6 But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’

Why does Jesus says this? Because He is breaking it down from the beginning, from the creation, God made them male and female, nothing else, all of these other make believe categories made by people are just attempts to get attention for themselves.

Why do people make themselves into things that they are not? Because they feel like they are not being accepted for what God made them. This is not only sinful, but deeply sad, because in their sinfulness they want attention, they want to be the everyone to look at them, it is not at all what God has called us to do, they are man centric, see me, accept me, look at me. And the more others do a thing it causes others to do even more outlandish things. And truly some of these folks need help, and there is no help for them out there, because the world is telling them that this destructive behavior is good and right, they are ok with them destroying themselves.

This is where we as Christians must be very careful not to allow our emotional outrage to take over. Do we see them as broken sinful people who need Christ, or do we see them as earthly manifestations of Satan? That matters.

This week on his podcast, fake pastor Joel Webbon said this…

“Hospitality is meant for other believers. If the social welfare state collapses, he says, the church will have to tell "feminist pagan women" on hard times, "You starve. Glory be to God. You starve."

If I must explain to you why this is horribly wrong, please see me after church.

Here let’s make sure that you understand, from Jesus own mouth.

Matt. 25:34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

Matt. 25:35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,

Matt. 25:36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’

Matt. 25:37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?

Matt. 25:38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?

Matt. 25:39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’

Matt. 25:40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

Matt. 25:41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

Matt. 25:42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,

Matt. 25:43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’

Matt. 25:44 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’

Matt. 25:45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’

Matt. 25:46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

You do not like Jesus, well how about Paul? Paul more to your liking?

Rom. 12:14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.

Rom. 12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.

Rom. 12:16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.

Rom. 12:17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.

Rom. 12:18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

Rom. 12:19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”

Rom. 12:20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”

Rom. 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Yes, Jesus said from the beginning God made them male and female, AMEN, I will declare that from now to the end, but it does not mean that I look at a person who is confused or suffering from a mental illness and say because of this behavior you cannot be redeemed, no they can be redeemed the Holy Spirit is powerful enough to transform their hearts it can happen, so do not give up on these people, you can proclaim the Word of God boldly in love and compassion.

Mark 10:7 ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife,

Jesus is quoting Genesis 2:24 and we often ignore this part but it one of the greatest truths ever. Why did God say that a man will leave and not the wife will leave? It is there for a reason, one, men are the ones who need to get out of the house, they need to get out from under their mothers, and the protection of their father, they need to go out and stand on their own, and in our nation today we have a serious problem with grown males who are still living at home, living off their parents. Folks we have raised a very lazy generation of men, who think much to highly of themselves. I saw a three guys walk into the Dairy Queen a couple of weeks ago, hair long and uncombed, beard messy, t-shirt looked like it had not been taken off in days, flip flops, shorts just everything screamed about them, I just don’t care. And of course, they have not even tried to ask a woman out on a date, because they are engrossed in Fans Only porn and some think they will build the perfect robot woman. These guys are like this because their parents have never read Genesis 2:24. Go Grandma’s and Grandpa’s help your kids to push your Grandsons out the door, your kids will thank you later for it.

Mark 10:8 and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh.

Mark 10:9 What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

So Jesus defines what marriage is, and by defining what marriage is, it also tells us, what marriage is not.

Marriage is between One man and one woman. Again, the grammar here matters, because these are singular nouns, the polygamy folks, and yes there are folks out there practicing polygamy and a lot of other vile things. But God clearly states that the man singular shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, not wives, not another man, not dog or horse, or anything else. Man and wife, male and female, one of each, not one man and three wives, it does not say that.

And the two, not three, not four, not five, the two shall become one flesh.

Marriage is one man and one woman who God has joined together. Let me repeat that, who God has joined together, if you have not stood before God and made your covenant with Him, because that is what a marriage is it is a covenant between three parties, a man, a woman and God, and if you have not come before God to get married then in my opinion it is not a marriage. Oh now we have legal marriage that our secular society has made laws for, hence why we have gay marriage, because when it is Caesar who decides what is marriage, then it is not of God. So God does not join together two men, or two women in marriage, God has not brought them together, and there are some heterosexuals that have not been brought together by God. Well, how do you know that Darin? When you have to sign paperwork prior to your marriage about who will own what when you do get divorce do you actually believe that, that marriage is ordained by God? No. Well I am just protecting mine. Really? Is that what marriage is all about? No.

So let me make it plain, the state, Caesar has no business being in the marriage business. Marriage is ordained by God through His Church and it is the servants of the church who should sit down with the man and woman, and help them see past the warm fuzzy feelings they currently have, help them to understand why God gave marriage, and that once in this covenant between the two of them and God, that covenant is not to be broken. And if we had that we would see more stable marriages, more stable families, less societal problems. But we don’t so we have to work within the current framework, but as Jesus says in the Genesis, in the beginning it was not so.

Mark 10:10 And in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter.

Why did the disciples ask Jesus about this? Jesus seemed very clear, and yet here are the disciples wanting to get deeper into the subject matter. Why?

Because they wanted the same power as the Pharisees, they wanted to be able to divorce their wives just as easily as the Pharisees had, what prevented them was wealth and position, but that was not going to be forever because when the Messiah throws out the Romans and overthrows the Jewish leadership, then they will be in power with the Messiah. Folks we often hold up the disciples as some type of supermen who all walk around healing people all the time and being completely righteous and sin free, and nothing could be further from the truth. These men were prideful, wanting to throw off the shackles of their position in life, they wanted power and status, need I remind you that even after the resurrection that these same disciples asked Jesus if He was going to restore the Kingdom of Israel, it is not until Pentecost that the Holy Spirit enlightens them, but now in this place these are very men who have conflicting loyalties.

Mark 10:11 And he said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her,

Mark 10:12 and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

Notice what Jesus is saying and let’s not get lost, remember that the divorce Jesus is talking about in this context is a divorce of abandonment, that is what Deuteronomy 24:1-4 is addressing, it is that a man just abandons the marriage without cause. That is what Jesus is referring to. The Bible gives justification to leave a marriage, abandonment is one, if your spouse abandons your marriage and marries another, then they have committed adultery, and that triggers the next which is adultery, if your spouse commits adultery that is justifiable grounds for a divorce, as is abuse and or addiction which is a form of abuse. We call these the 4 A’s of justifiable divorce, abandonments, adultery, abuse and addiction. Now are these automatic that if one of these happens it is automatically on to a divorce? No, forgiveness and reconciliation are always on the table, everyone sins, and those who sin, who openly confess that sin, who earnest seek repentance, then the spouse should seek to forgive and reconcile the marriage, and it is the obligation of the other spouse to do so, not to just give up throw up your hands and say, well I tried, no try harder.

But also notice that Jesus applies the same standard to both man and woman, normally the man could do whatever he wanted without consequences it was only the woman who bore the consequences of leaving a marriage or committing adultery. Jesus makes it clear that both are equal under the law of Moses.

Overall what is the message here? That even during the time of Moses, and on into the first century, men sought to use marriage rather than seeing it for what God had given it to be, a covenant between one man and one woman along with God. Jesus says that from the beginning, God made them man and woman, and the purpose for them to be together in community, humans are not meant to be alone, we are made for community and the community starts at the foundational level of one man and one woman going into a lifelong covenant with each other and God, seeking to be one, hence the two becoming one flesh, they are to be on the same page, have the same purpose, what is that purpose, to make families to have children to raise them and guide them in the ways of God, remember Deuteronomy 6:1-9?

And that this covenant should not be taken lightly, it should not be thrown away, or abandoned easily, it is meant to be for a lifetime.

Jesus gave us the perfect model to base our society on, seeing the mess that our society is today, don’t you think we should do that what Jesus said to do and stop following the designs of men and their harden hearts.

Yeah! Good now go tell someone that.

Darin Bracy is the pastor at Yorktown Baptist Church in Yorktown Virginia. He is a graduate of Veritas Baptist College with a BA in Ministry and a minor in History. He has a wife Stacy, two daughters, Ashlynne and her husband Justin, their daughter Harper Darin's other daughter Aftyn, and her two dogs, Eddie and Lulubelle.

You can reach Darin at his email address, Darinbracy@gmail.com and you can see his video content on YouTube – Basic Baptist Guy