The religious leaders question him on the law: Is it lawful
for a man to divorce his wife or not?
Well, what did Moses say?
Moses allowed a man to present his wife with a written bill
of divorce.
Jesus tells them Moses allowed divorce only because their
hearts were hard. Hard hearts find forgiveness impossible. Hard hearts aren’t
capable of intimacy. Moses allowed divorce because he couldn’t reconcile their
hard hearts and they couldn’t reconcile with each other.
Jesus turns that written decree on its ear. He says there
is an order to creation. People fall in love and are bound to one another. No
matter what happens next, even the hardening of hearts, that bond cannot be
undone. Love is love. It doesn’t die and it cannot be broken. He says two that
join together become one flesh. Trying to divide that flesh is adultery.
While Jesus is laying down the law, children try to enter
the room. The disciples talk sternly to them, but Jesus becomes indignant. He
says, “Let them come to me,” and scoops them up in his arms. “It is to children
that the Kingdom of God belongs.”
Children don’t divorce one another, nor commit adultery,
nor test one another. Children
don’t care much about writing or keeping laws. Children recognize goodness and
life when they see it, and run toward it. Children follow their hearts.
Jesus blesses the children and says, “Whoever does not
receive the Kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
Text for the day:
Things to think
about:
Keeping the law does not gain you entry into the Kingdom of
God, but receiving the Kingdom like a little child does.
Things to do:
Notice the places in your own life where you have elevated
the law above goodness and life.
Jesus,
help me receive the Kingdom like a little child.
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