#ScriptureReflection - Matthew 19:1-12 (8.13.21)

 Marriage and Divorce. 

1 When Jesus finished these words, he left Galilee and went to the district of Judea across the Jordan. 2Great crowds followed him, and he cured them there. 3 Some Pharisees approached him, and tested him, saying, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause whatever?” 

4  He said in reply, “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female’ 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no human being must separate.” 

7  They said to him, “Then why did Moses command that the man give the woman a bill of divorce and dismiss [her]?” 

8He said to them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9 I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) and marries another commits adultery.” 

10[His] disciples said to him, “If that is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” 

11He answered, “Not all can accept [this] word, but only those to whom that is granted. 12Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so; some, because they were made so by others; some, because they have renounced marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Whoever can accept this ought to accept it.”