Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?’ He answered them, ‘What did Moses command you?’ They said, ‘Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.’ But Jesus said to them, ‘Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. But from the beginning of creation, “God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.’ (Mark 10: 2-9)

Jesus was expected to answer that divorce is only allowed in case of sexual infidelity... or to list other circumstances under which divorce is legitimate. This issue was a source of contention between two leading schools of the Torah. With his answer the Pharisees could reduce Jesus to one side or the other of a well-known argument over scripture.

The answer of Jesus goes beyond the words given in Torah. Jesus uses the pedantic question to raise the issue of God's original intent and the intention we bring to scripture. We often use scripture to separate, to distinguish, and to exclude. We do this because we are hard of heart: we resist the flow of God's intention and seek to control more than create.

Jesus does not suggest the law of Moses is wrong. But the self-justifying and other-criticizing attitude we bring to scripture is certainly wrong. In the gospel of Matthew Jesus explains, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfil." (Matthew 5:17) In fulfilling (Greek: pleroo) Jesus leads us to the abundant, over-flowing, abounding, all-inclusive, and whole intention of God.

What God has joined together, let no one separate.

Above is Flow of Fire a photograph of a blacksmith's flame taken at the Spruce Pine Festival (Spruce Pine, North Carolina)