Mark 10:1-9
1 Getting up, He went from there to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan; crowds gathered around Him again, and, according to His custom, He once more began to teach them.
2 Some Pharisees came up to Jesus, testing Him, and began to question Him whether it was lawful for a man to divorce a wife. 3 And He answered and said to them, "What did Moses command you?" 4 They said, "Moses permitted a man TO WRITE A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE AND SEND her AWAY." 5 But Jesus said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. 6 "But from the beginning of creation, God MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE. 7 "FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER, 8 AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH; so they are no longer two, but one flesh.
9 "What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate."
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As my wife and I approach our eleventh (11th) anniversary, I am reminded that in God's marriage math, 1 + 1 = 1. Too often I take this for granted in a culture that, one, does not honor marriage between a man and a woman quite the same as He does; two, sees couples primarily as indivuals who are interdependent from a systematic and functional viewpoint; and three, misunderstands God's primary plan for the roles of husband and wife in the context of oneness. This is a context of love: a covenant and not a contract. Contracts carry stipulations and limits responsibility. Covenants establish agreements entered into voluntarily by two parties that identify and affirm their relationship one to another and acknowledge their binding, loving commitment one to another, even if one party member fails to keep it. From this viewpoint, my wife and I can celebrate the oneness we share, despite the differences, despite the disappointments, despite the despair because the covenant is one of love unconditional and not just a partnership of equals. The new math of marriage does not compute and too often ends with irreconciliable differences. The old math works just fine if husbands and wives affirm God's creative model for exemplifying His ideal relationship between Himself and His people. Under the blood, a Redeeming God plus humbled people is always equal to ONE.
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