NOTES for Mar 10:1-16

The Pharisees wanted to learn Jesus Christ's opinion on the disputed question of divorce: is divorce permissible, and for precisely what reason? There were differing opinions on this within their own circles. But Jesus' answer astonished everyone: He declared that Moses permitted divorce only “because of your hardness of heart,” in other words, to avoid something worse, such as husbands murdering wives they no longer loved. God, however, wants husband and wife to attain an indissoluble unity in marriage, to become “one flesh.”

This seems not merely difficult but impossible. The disciples' first reaction, recorded by another Evangelist, is: “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry” (Mt 19:10). The Saviour's assertion that marriage is indissoluble was so astonishing that the disciples asked for an explanation, whereupon He confirmed what He had said before: yes, God asks of us what is impossible by human standards. That is why Jesus says, “With men it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.”

God acts in us and through us when we trust Him completely, just as little children trust their parents. The Greek word “paidia” indicates that the children brought to Jesus for a blessing were no more than seven or eight years old. The disciples evidently did not regard little children as full persons, whereas Christ emphasized that adults need to learn lessons of faith from children.

Having learned faith from children, we shall receive the blessings of the Kingdom of God here and now, and God will accomplish in us and through us what is “impossible with men.”