GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 10:11
At Its Best
I’ve become more attentive to the bonds between husbands and wives—spouses whose kindness toward one another is exemplary. One wife has taken “husbandly duties” upon herself in light of her husband’s declining health, as many wives do. On one occasion, I saw a woman pushing a man in a wheelchair—whom I assumed to be her husband—and noticed the care she took to avoided any hazards.
At the University Cancer and Blood Center (UCBC), where many receive chemotherapy, spouses of all ages care for one another. Their tenderness, thoughtfulness, and love are evident. These couples do not wear their religious commitments on their sleeves, yet they exemplify Jesus’ teaching on marriage as recorded by Mark.
Jesus pointed out to the Pharisees—who sought to entrap him—that Moses described a divorce process only because some husbands’ hearts were hardened and to bring order to a chaotic situation. In private, the disciples asked him about the matter. “And he said to them, ‘Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her.’” (Mark 10:11) (Note: To claim that the tense of this statement makes the new marriage one of continual adultery presses grammar beyond its limits.) Jesus was, in effect, echoing the prophet Malachi: “You ask, ‘Why?’ It is because the Lord is the witness between you and the wife of your youth. You have been unfaithful to her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant. Has not the one God made you? You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth. ‘The man who hates and divorces his wife,’ says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘does violence to the one he should protect,’ says the Lord Almighty. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful.” (Malachi 2:14-16)
There is a slight difference between St. Matthew’s and St. Mark’s accounts of this conversation, because Jesus did allow adultery as an exception to this strong rejection of divorce. (Matt. 19:9) Some writers suggest that Mark’s Gospel, written in Rome, was a strong statement against a common practice among Latin Christians. Whatever the case, the strength of marriage bonds—especially when one partner requires patience, care, and sustained attention—exemplifies the union at its most exalted level and represents marriage at its finest.
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