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An archive of Jacob Nannie's Sermons & Teachings
This sermon is titled "Jesus Reaffirms" and it's on Mark chapter 10, verses 1 through 12.
This is a difficult sermon. This is one where Jesus addresses divorce and remarriage.
It was a difficult one to preach and prepare for, but in the end it went well, and there's a lot of positive feedback.
So, yeah, if you can, enjoy this sermon.
Friends, this morning's passage is a difficult one.
We're going to hear some of what Jesus has to say about divorce and remarriage.
That's a difficult topic. You know, Paul keeps telling me he's not planning these on purpose for me,
but here I am again, and what a privilege it is, and truly it is a privilege.
It's a privilege truly to be a part of a congregation that does not avoid the hard passages.
We really do preach through all the Bible. We don't avoid things that make us uncomfortable,
and it really is a privilege to be able to preach these hard passages to you and for you,
but they're still just that, right? They are hard passages.
And today's especially. We all have a story of divorce.
Some of us have friends who are divorced, right? I have friends who are divorced.
Some of us have family members who are divorced, have gone through a divorce. I have that too.
Some of you have even personally been through a divorce or experienced a divorce.
It's because of these experiences, either the ones that we witness or the ones that we live,
that we have complex emotions when we hear or think about or talk about divorce.
And the thing is, we all hate divorce to one degree or another, and so does God.
God hates divorce as well. In our hearts, they hurt from the reality of divorce
in our world, and God's heart aches over that as well, but He does not leave it unaddressed.
He does not not speak to it, and today we're going to hear some of what Jesus says about divorce.
And Jesus says more than something about divorce. He gets at the issue that's behind the issue
and the question that's behind the question in this passage this morning.
At the root of the passage is this question that we must ask ourselves.
What does it mean to follow Jesus in God's design for marriage?
Keep that in mind. What does it mean to follow Jesus in God's design for marriage?
Now, it's not to say that everyone should get married, and it's not to say we can answer
every question or speak to every experience and do it justice this morning. Today, in fact,
we won't even hear everything that Jesus and the Bible have to say about divorce and remarriage.
Instead, today we're engaging a particular text within a particular gospel within a particular
context. And the text comes to us from the Gospel of Mark as we continue in our series in the second
half of Mark. In this series, we're journeying with Jesus, hearing about what it means to bear
the cross before taking the crown. And all throughout this journey, Jesus is teaching us
about discipleship. And he's teaching us upside down values of the kingdom. For example, Mark
chapter 8, Jesus taught that if we want to save our lives, we have to lose our lives.
In Mark chapter 9, he taught that if we want to be first in the kingdom of God, we have to be last.
These are upside down values. And today, Jesus is teaching us that those who want to leave it
all behind in pursuit of him must stay yoked to their spouses. And Jesus will continue to
teach us these upside down values as we move forward in the Gospel of Mark.
And as Jesus teaches us, particularly in complex passages like this one, we have all sorts of
emotions, again, images and feelings that pop into our hearts, as well as our heads. So I want to
start this morning before the scripture reading with some prayer. And I want you to pray, and I
want you to pray for three things. First, I want you, I want us to take 10 seconds to pray silently
for yourself, for yourself, that God would give you peace, that God would give you patience,
and that God would give you comfort this morning as we hear the words of Jesus.
So let's take 10 seconds to silently pray right now.
God, we humbly ask you to soften our hearts, to receive your word
this morning. Do that for us, God. Amen. Second, I want you to take 10 seconds to pray
silently for the person to your left and the person to your right. Pray that Christ would give them
peace, patience, and comfort. Let's take 10 more seconds.
Jesus, shower the peoples who are right and to our left with your love and grace this morning.
Do that for us this morning, Jesus. Amen. And finally, I want you to take 10 seconds
to pray silently, pray silently for me, that the Spirit would give me peace,
patience, and comfort this morning. Let's take 10 more seconds to do that.
Spirit of God, gift me with your presence, gift us with your presence this morning,
so that we might hear your word more clearly. It will be encouraging to us, a gift to us,
even when it's hard. Pray these things in the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit. Amen.
Please stand with me this morning as we hear from God's word.
This morning's scripture is from Mark chapter 10, verses 1 through 12.
Hear now the word of the Lord. He set out from there and went to the region of Judea and across
the Jordan. Then crowds converged on him again, and as was his custom, he taught them again.
Some Pharisees came to him to test him, asking, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?"
He replied to them, "What did Moses command you?" They said, "Moses permitted us to write divorce
papers and send her away." But Jesus told them, "He wrote this command for you because of the
hardness of your hearts. But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female.
For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother, and the two will become one flesh,
so they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together,
let no one separate." When they were in the house again, the disciples questioned him about this
matter. He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against
her. Also, if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery." This
is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. Well, in our passage this morning, the Pharisees have
come to Jesus, and they've come to test Jesus. And they come to test him by asking, "Is it lawful for
a man to divorce his wife?" Now, this may seem like an innocent enough question, but it's not.
It's a test for Jesus. It's a trap for Jesus. And how do we know it's a trap? Well, there's
three things. One, we first know it's a trap because of who is asking the question. Second,
we know it's a trap because of how they are asking the question. And third, we know it's a trap
because of the question that is asked. So who's asking the question? Well, it's the Pharisees,
the same Pharisees who since Mark 3, 6 have been plotting to kill Jesus. Mark 3, 6 says,
"Immediately, immediately," you hear this word all throughout the Gospel of Mark, "immediately
the Pharisees went out and started plotting with the Herodians against him how they might kill him."
They have been plotting to kill Jesus and set traps for him for some time now.
Which leads to our second point. We know they are setting a trap for Jesus
because of how they ask the question. The question is asked as a test.
And that word test here in Mark 10, 2, it's the same word used in Mark 1, 13 when Satan tests
Jesus. In the Gospel of Mark, Pharisees are often used by Satan. And just like Satan,
the Pharisees are quoting scripture at Jesus to get what they want. And what they want is Jesus
dead. So we know who's asking the question. We know it's a question that's a test. And third,
we know what the question is. Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife? That's a loaded question.
Remember, again, this is a trap. This is a test for Jesus. This is not a simple, honest,
innocent question for some popular rabbi. It's a test. And the obvious answer to this question is
yes. Yes, it is lawful for a man to divorce his wife. Deuteronomy 24, 1 makes it clear
where Moses writes, "If a man marries a woman, but she becomes displeasing to him because he
finds something indecent about her, he may write her a divorce certificate,
hand it to her, and send her away from his house." The answer to the question is clear. Yes,
that's what Moses wrote. But the debate, and perhaps maybe the question assumed behind the
Pharisee's question, is on what grounds could a man divorce his wife? You see, in Jesus's day,
and even in our own day today, there is debate around, there was debate around what Moses meant
by the word "indecent" in Deuteronomy 24, 1. And during Jesus's ministry, there was really two
popular schools of thought. The first school was called the Hallel School, and it was named after
the rabbi Hallel. This school of thought was the majority view during Jesus's day, the vast
majority view. And Hallel believed that a man could divorce his wife for literally any reason.
If you woke up and decided you don't like the way your wife looks, Hallel said you can divorce her.
If you're out and about and you find someone more attractive that you think is more attractive,
you can divorce her. If she messes up your breakfast, lunch, and dinners not to your liking,
you can divorce her. Literally any reason. And it's contrasted with the Shemai School,
named after the rabbi Shemai. And this school was the vast minority view in Jesus's day.
Shemai believed that a man could divorce his wife only for, only for adultery.
So this debate is in the background of these discussions. And earlier in the Gospel of Mark,
John the Baptist, he actually weighed in on this, on this debate when he spoke out against King
Herod's inappropriate marriage with his brother's wife. And John the Baptist was beheaded for that
God-honoring perspective. And the Pharisees are seeking the same outcome for Jesus.
They want him to say something controversial so they might have some reason to kill him.
And Jesus, you know, he's a son of God. He knows this. And so he responds to their question,
sees their heart, responds to their question with another question. He replied to them,
"What did Moses command you?" And they said, "Moses permitted us to write divorce papers
and send her away." But Jesus told them, "He wrote this command for you because of the hardness
of your hearts." You catch that? Jesus asked, "What did Moses command you?"
And they respond, "Well, here's what he permitted us to do."
Instead of seeing God's good design for marriage, the Pharisees chose a text that addressed
the worst possible situation that could be fall of marriage. And even then they miss God's good
design for that text. Even when they cherry-pick Deuteronomy 24, 1, they're missing what God
intended there. Because the thing is Moses did permit divorce in Deuteronomy 24, verse 1.
We might ask, how is that part of God's good design that Moses would allow divorce,
would permit divorce? Well, in a patriarchal society, in the patriarchal culture of the
ancient Near East, where men had all the legal power, this law was designed to protect wives.
It was designed to protect wives in two chief ways. First, it was a protection for wives so
they could not be passed around from husband to the next husband to the next husband and
eventually back to the first husband, as if she were some possession that's shared among men.
And the second way it protected women was that it protected them from the false charge of adultery,
which carried with it the penalty of death. And so if someone falsely accused a woman who was
married with adultery, she could produce the divorce papers to show proof that her husband
had already rejected her. And so this certificate was a benefit for the woman, for the vulnerable.
And the Pharisees know this. The Pharisees know that that's why Moses wrote this law,
as a protection, but they are twisting scripture to get what they want. They want divorce and
remarriage at will. They likely side with a Hillel school that says, "For any reason,
you can leave your wife." They're using scripture to justify their wants,
and Jesus calls this out, and he calls it hard-heartedness.
Remember, all through the Gospel of Mark, Jesus is teaching us about discipleship. And that's
important to keep in mind. Scholar Timothy Gombas says that it's important to keep in mind this
discipleship theme because this larger context determines what Jesus says about marriage
and divorce. He's not laying down generalized rules that can be applied easily to any situation.
He's not laying down generalized rules that can be applied to any situation. His purpose
is more specific. He's teaching about how disciples orient their lives in the Kingdom of God.
Disciples seek God's heart. They seek God's heart in scripture and direct their lives
toward service and care for others, rather than living for themselves and satisfying their own
desires. Hard-heartedness is seeking to live for the desires of your heart instead of God's heart.
Hard-heartedness pursues the self's desires.
Friends, this is not the way of Jesus. This is not how Jesus would have
us live. Hard-heartedness is not what God intended for you or for me. And Jesus knows this. He knows
what Moses intended, and He knows what God intended, and He points the Pharisees back
to God's heart as it was revealed in the beginning. In verse 6 of our passage, He says,
"But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason, a man will leave
his father and mother, and the two will become one flesh, so they are no longer two, but one flesh.
Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate." The "but" there from the beginning
in Jesus' response puts some tension between Jesus and the Pharisees. Jesus gave them a test. They
came to test Jesus, and Jesus gave them a test back. What did Moses say? And they failed that
test because they took a text out of its context and used it for their own desires. They tried to
use the Bible for their own desires rather than being mastered by the Bible, rather than following
what the Bible says. You and I can't do that. We should not do that. You cannot and should not take
individual texts from the Bible to prop up your own way of life. You have to understand how texts
fit in the whole story of the Bible, and you have to understand how they reveal God's heart.
That's what Jesus does. He points the Pharisees back to the beginning to reveal God's heart for
marriage. In Deuteronomy, Moses is dealing with the reality of a world that is shattered by sin.
And we spoke about the shattered world way back in the book of Exodus when we preached on the
subject of slavery in our Exodus series. And just in case you thought, "Paul, let me get away with
that sermon. I actually preached at Adalatha, so I didn't even get away with that one."
The laws about slaves were not a blueprint for human flourishing. It was not God's blueprint
to say, "Here's what you should do. You should keep slaves, and here's how you keep slaves."
That's not what Exodus was intended... It's not how Exodus was intended to be read.
It was a text that shows what to do when you're faced with a world that is shattered by sin and
suffering. And the same rule applies to what Moses permits in Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy 24.1
is not a blueprint for the flourishing of marriages, and it's not a blueprint
for the flourishing of your own desires.
It is an instruction on what to do when faced with the reality that marriages exist and are affected
by a world shattered by sin and suffering. This is not a text... Deuteronomy 24.1, the laws about
divorce, they are not texts to prop up your own selfish desires. They are texts that help you deal
with the fact that marriages are affected by a world that is shattered by sin and suffering.
In this shattered world, Jesus calls us to be tender-hearted. Tender-heartedness
pursues your spouse's flourishing.
From the beginning, God has revealed that His heart for marriage is a lifelong movement
in loving oneness without sameness between one biological adult male and one biological adult
female. And instead of having hard hearts that lead to divorce, we ought to have tender hearts
that pursue the flourishing of our spouses. Marriage is not a contract. Marriage is not
a commodity. Marriage is not a milestone or accomplishment in your life, despite what
lies culture might tell you. Marriage is a covenant. Again, Jesus reaffirms that God's design
for marriage is a covenant between one man and one woman for a lifetime,
and that man and woman bear witness together to the diverse beauty of our God through a whole
lifetime. And if you want to go deeper into this subject of human sexuality and marriage,
I would encourage you to check out our position paper titled "Exploring God's Design for Human
Sexuality." It's on our website. You can find it there. If you can't find it, email me. I'd
be happy to get it to you. And there on page 23, we say this, "Marriage is a covenant." It is a
sacred relationship between a man and a woman and with God. The marriage covenant is not simply a
contract. Instead, it's a binding, lasting, intimate commitment of love that is both
horizontal as well as vertical. Marriage is horizontal between a man and a woman,
but it's also vertical. It's love for and with God. And that's a high and heavy calling for us
to uphold God's heart and design for marriage. That's a high and heavy calling. The disciples,
they know this. That's why they hear Jesus' words to the Pharisees, and then they ask him again
about this discourse when they're in private. They say in verse 10, "When they were in the house
again, the disciples questioned him about this matter. He said to them, 'Whoever divorces his
wife and marries another commits adultery against her. Also, she divorces her husband
and marries another, she commits adultery.'"
It's a tough passage. We have to be careful here. We have to be careful what Jesus is and is not
addressing. Here in Mark 10, in verses 10 through 12, in this Gospel, in this section of the larger
story of the Bible, what is Jesus saying and what is he not saying? What is he addressing and what
is he not addressing? What Jesus is addressing here is God's design, God's intention, God's heart
for marriage. Jesus is saying that God designed an intended marriage to be permanent. Spouses who are
disciples of Christ should tenderheartedly pursue one another for a lifetime. God designed an
intended marriage to be permanent. But remember, Jesus is not saying everything he can say or would
say about divorce and remarriage here in Mark 10, 1 through 12. Jesus is not addressing, he's not
addressing right here what happens and what one ought to do when a spouse chooses selfishness,
when a spouse chooses hard-heartedness to the point of abandonment or to the point of abuse.
Jesus and the Apostle Paul, they both do address those circumstances, what happens and what one
should do. They address that in the Gospel of Matthew and also the first letter to the
Corinthians. But here, Jesus is reaffirming that God's design and intention for marriage
is a lifelong permanent commitment. And maybe you hear those words in verses 10 through 12. Maybe
you're here today and you're having a hard time with those words because you have lived through
a divorce where your spouse hard-heartedly pursued their own desire. And maybe through that hard-hearted
pursuit, they abandoned you. Or maybe through that hard-hearted pursuit, they abused you.
Maybe you're here today divorced because you were the spouse who had the hard heart.
You were the spouse who chose selfish desire and you were the spouse that either abandoned
or abused. Friends, there may be some of you here today who are currently in marriages,
maybe even sitting next to one of us, and your spouse right now is pursuing their own hard
heart and desires. And right now, it is in the process of abandoning you or maybe even in the
process of abusing you. And again, some of you here today are in those marriages and you're the
spouse with the hard heart. Whoever you are today, whatever your current circumstance is, this is my
plea with you to hear me when I say that Jesus has so much grace for you. Whether you're the one
who is being abandoned or abused or the one doing the abusing, whether it's the past
or the present, or you feel like it's breaking into the present and it's in the future,
Jesus has grace for you. And friends, if you're here today and you find yourself in those
situations, maybe you're still healing from those situations, I would plea with you to talk to a
pastor today. We want to help. We want to lead you towards Jesus. We want to help you find resources
that could help you as well. We want you to chase after Christ to please talk to us if you feel you
need to. You see, Jesus desired that we chase after God's design for marriage, and that means
tender heartedness towards spouses, not hard heartedness. But listen, this desire of Jesus,
this design of God is a teaching for all who are listening in whatever circumstance you find
yourself in. So whether you are single, married, divorced, or remarried, you must wholeheartedly
pursue marital flourishing in the family of Jesus. Wholeheartedly pursue marital flourishing
in the family of Jesus, whether it's your own or someone else in the congregation.
Marriage is for our good and it's for God's glory. But to be clear again, that doesn't mean that
everyone should get married or that having a marriage is this ideal for the Christian life.
That's not true. Marriage is not the end goal of redemption and marriage is not the ideal life
for the Christian. But marriage is often erroneously seen as something that only the
married couple needs to work on. Marriage is a private gift for one man and one woman. That's
true, yes, for a lifetime, yes, amen. But marriage is also a communal reality that the entire church
body is to support. So if you're single, remember a couple things. One, Jesus was also single.
Jesus lived a full life in God and so was Paul. Paul, who wrote most of the New Testament,
he was also single and lived a full life in God. You don't have to prove anything to God or to this
church family, and I hope you know that. You don't have to prove anything to God or this church
family by getting married, which is not true. In fact, singleness is as rich a gift as marriage is.
And like all gifts, some we choose and some are chosen for us. So maybe you're here today
and you're single and you're saying, "Yes, I understand that singleness can have a full life
in Christ and that is as rich a gift as marriage is, but I feel called to be married." Understandable.
Your focus should not be on finding the right one, but focus should be working towards becoming
the one who pursues Christ first and foremost. Your goal if you feel called to marriage is not
to yoke yourself to another human being, it's to yoke yourself first to Christ.
Reminds me of the passage in Matthew where Christ says, "Seek first the kingdom of God and then
all these things will be added to you." In the meantime, support the marriages in our church.
The command in Genesis to let no one separate what God has joined together,
that command is for you as well if you're single. Don't let anyone or anything come into this church
and separate marriages in this church body. Protect the marriages of your brothers and sisters,
that command is for you as well. Don't let anyone separate what God has yoked together.
Maybe you're here this morning and you're in a different situation,
you're single because you've been divorced.
Some of you have been victims of hard hardness of your former spouse, and the encouragement to you
is to take heart. The encouragement for you is that Christ's grace is fully sufficient for you.
You are not damaged goods, you're not beyond repair, you're not irredeemable.
Christ has not abandoned you, he has tenderheartedly pursued you because he loves you.
And remember that his yoke is easy and that his burden is light, and in him you will find rest
for your weary soul. Believe that, be encouraged by that, and run to Christ for that.
But there's some others of us in here who are divorced and single,
and you find yourself in that situation because you were the one
with the hard-hearted self-pursuit of your own desire.
You were the one who hard-heartedly pursued yourself and walked out on your spouse,
and if that's you this morning, you need to repent.
To the ones who walked out because they just wanted something else,
you need to repent. You took advantage of someone and that is not okay,
and you need to plead with God's kindness, for God's kindness to you that leads to repentance.
You need to pray and plead with God that he would soften your heart, and you need to know
that forgiveness is waiting for everyone who is willing and humble enough to acknowledge
and confess their sin. Pray that God would lead you to the kindness that leads to repentance.
That same yoke that is easy and light for the victims of divorce
is the same yoke that's easy and light for the perpetrators of divorce.
Some of you are here today married, and you're married in a rough spot.
Ask yourself, are you being tender-hearted towards your spouse?
Are you seeking the flourishing of your spouse, or are you hard-heartedly seeking your own
selfish desires? So marriage is hard work. It must be engaged every day,
and if your marriage is crumbling or in a rough spot, don't give up on that task.
You know, this past Monday we had the treat of having a congregant in our teaching team,
and she's been married for 65 years. It's a long time. And she speaks up, and she starts like this,
"Sometimes marriage is awful." I was like, "Well, okay."
That's true, okay. So you can't be happy all the time.
And then she just drops this light on us. But you can be redemptive all the time.
You can be redemptive all the time. And to be honest and transparent with you,
I experienced this last night, and I did ask Christina if I could share this story.
Last night, Christina came home from a run, and I just was agitated for some reason,
not at her. I just was upset, frustrated, I don't know.
And I had this attitude with her that wasn't fair to her at all, and I was just upset.
And then I sit with a sermon on the porch outside, and then I'm reading through this,
and I get to this line, "Sometimes marriage is awful." And I'm like, "Yeah,
you can't be happy all the time." I'm like, "Yeah, but you can be redemptive." And I'm like,
"Oh, dang it." Okay. So I'm sitting with this for a bit, and I get up, and I went to Christina,
and I said, "Hey, I'm sorry. I had attitude with you. You didn't deserve that. I'm sorry."
And it was one of those conversations where it was light enough that we both started smiling
a little bit and broke into a little bit of laughter, and she's like, "Yeah, what the heck
was that?" But that's redemptive. That's humbly seeking to be redemptive all the time.
Marriage can be awful. Sometimes marriage is awful. Marriage is hard. You can't be happy
all the time, and you weren't promised that happiness. But you can be redemptive. You can
tenderheartedly pursue your spouse. So if you are married, you have a choice every day to be
redemptive, even when you're not happy. In fact, studies have shown that two-thirds of
couples who report being unhappy in their marriages, but stick it out,
report being happy five years later. If that's you this morning, if you're in that place
where your marriage is crumbling, don't give up. Keep tenderheartedly pursuing God's design and
pursuing the flourishing of your spouse. Friends, we as the people of God need to
wholeheartedly pursue marital flourishing in this church body. We must commit to one another.
We must be devoted to one another in love. And we must be devoted to one another in prayer as well.
Prayer is a spiritual habit that we're walking through in the Four Life companion journals in
this series. And I want us to practice prayer now, like we did at the beginning of the service.
So I want to invite you to bow your head and close your eyes and pray silently. I want us
to take 10 seconds to pray for the marriages in the congregation. For those marriages that
are solid and doing well and flourishing, pray that God would continue that. And for those that
are crumbling and on the brink of divorce, pray that God would bring spirit and power,
supernatural restoration. Let's take 10 seconds to pray that now.
God, we thank you for showing us the way of discipleship and that you have given us your
spirit to do these things. So for the marriages, God, that are flourishing, we praise you for that
and ask that you would increase and sustain and keep. And for those that are struggling, God,
we ask even right now that you would give supernatural spirit and power restoration
to those couples. Amen. Now let's take 10 seconds to pray for those who are divorced
in our congregation. That those who have been through divorce, that Jesus would bring healing
to their wounds, he would bring provision, and that he would bring wholeness. Let's take 10
seconds to do that now. Jesus, you offer wholeness. With an outstretched arm and mighty hand,
you offer us wholeness. And we ask that you would bring restoration and healing and wholeness and
provision to those who have suffered divorce in this congregation. Help us to speak words of
encouragement and to be with those people. Amen. Finally, I want you to take 10 seconds
to pray for singles in our congregation that they would find family, true family, true belonging in
the family of God. Let's take 10 more seconds to do that now.
Jesus, may the singles in our congregation have a deep, deep sense of belonging. Thank you for
the gift of singleness. Be with those that are single. Keep them single in celibacy,
God, and help us who are not to come alongside them and love on them like you have loved on us.
In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.
Now I want to close by praying together out loud this prayer by Saint Francis of Assisi.
This is his prayer of peace, and a portion of this was featured in the Form Life Journal
this week if you're following along there. So let's say these words together,
this prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi. Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt,
faith. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love, for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.
This is an ambitious prayer. It's a high and lofty goal of a prayer, and we can only pray and embody
that prayer and aspire to what it is because Jesus wholeheartedly pursued us in love until he died.
We wanted nothing to do with him.
We committed adultery against him. We pursued counterfeit gods, and he still
came after us tenderheartedly, wholeheartedly, until he hung on a cross.
And whoever receives him and gives themselves exclusively to him will come to know
the joy that that pursuit of Christ towards you brings. Single, divorced, married, remarried,
all of us. And the practice of communion speaks to that powerfully.
In her book, The Broken Way, Anne Voskamp describes the marriage customs of first century Jews.
Here's what she says, "When a man had decided whom he'd chosen to marry,
his father would pour a cup of wine and pass it down to his son, and the son would then turn to
the young woman he loved, and with all the solemnity of an oath before almighty Yahweh himself.
The young man would hold out the cup of wine to the woman and ask for her hand in marriage,
and he would ask with these words, 'This is a new covenant in my blood which I offer to you.'"
The Last Supper was a marriage covenant. These are the exact words Jesus uses in the upper room
within the Last Supper with his disciples. "This cup is a new covenant in my blood which I offer
to you." And Voskamp continues and says, in other words, Jesus says to you, "With this cup I love
you. I want you. I covenant myself to you. I commit to you. This cup is a new covenant in my blood
which I offer to you. Do you love me? Will you covenant yourself to me?"
So no matter your status, Jesus invites you. He invites us to draw near to him as you are.
Maybe you feel dirty. Maybe you feel selfish. Maybe you feel broken. Maybe you feel shame.
Jesus invites us to draw near to him, and he offers forgiveness and wholeness
and healing to all those willing to humble themselves under his yoke.