Matthew 5:31-32

³¹ “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a official document of divorce.’

³² But I tell you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of discovering sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

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“Marriage is personal”

The society Jesus was born into had also dropped the ball on the sanctity of marriage. They were too interested in giving people a way out of “bad” marriages. They made it too easy to divorce. They had fallen for the misconception that marriage was designed to please someone, so if the pleasure stops, the marriage should too.

Jesus endorsed faithfulness in marriage because when marriages fail, adultery happens. When a man divorces his wife, he forces her to seek another. Whoever wants this divorced woman is also led to adultery by his love for her.

What Jesus is saying is that marriage is more than a personal issue. Lifelong, monogamous commitment is the only way. Divorce disrupts God’s objective in marriage, not only for the one who seeks it, but for all others it affects as well.

LORD, make us people who love unconditionally, who stay faithful to those we love.