Listen

It was said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife must give her a divorce certificate.’ But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife except for sexual unfaithfulness forces her to commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Matthew 5:31-32

Think

As teenagers, my friends and I would play the “loophole” game. Give us a rule or law, and we would come up with the loophole to get around it. The scenarios, though hypothetical, displayed our aptitude for “coloring within the lines” of society — knowing that we could protect our choices by justifying it through laws or rules.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus often plays the “reverse loophole” game, posing a scenario that allowed people to make brash or hasty decisions, and flipping it on its head. “Yes,” he says, “According to the law, you simply need to sign a piece of paper to get a divorce. Easy. But did you think how it will affect you? Your partner? Your children?”

Going along with Jesus’ example of divorce, there are many reasons why a marriage may dissolve. Affirming Jesus’ exception of unfaithfulness, which includes abuse, divorce may be the healthy and necessary outcome. But Jesus implores us to think about the toll our decisions make on others — life life long consequences — before we make them.

Emily Holladay

Pray

Loving God, grant me the wisdom not to simply “color in the lines,” but to make choices today that paint a beautiful picture of love and justice for myself and my community. Amen.

Go

Go. Take the next step, confident that the One who set the stakes high walks the road with you. Do not lose sight of what is good.

“And what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

Micah 6:8 (NRSV)