Pilgr-image 19 - Marriage

But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery...

“It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. -Matthew 5:31-32

I feel like I need to return to the quote I ended the last reflection with from Dr. Carla Works...

Far from merely seeing women as property to be coveted by men, however, Jesus’ teaching on adultery and divorce reinforces the dignity of women and warns against a culture of male privilege...In contrast to a world where women were treated like property, Jesus’ mission allowed women to be disciples.  link

I am so grateful for the direction that Dr. Works led me in her reflection and how that dovetailed with one of the messages I heard in the Barbie movie that recently was released.  As I shared in my sermon from Sunday on this passage, when we take off our 21st century lenses and try to first read these words through 1st century lenses, this teaching is actually lifting women up and not oppressing them.  It is a message that women shouldn’t be divorced for one of the many other reasons that the law and tradition had established but instead that divorce ought only be an option when the marriage covenant is broken.  Women are not simply objects in a relationship but people and within the new world that Jesus is envisioning, “Jesus mission allowed women to be disciples” (Dr. Works again).

The Barbie movie speaks to this message as well - not only are women not simply objects for others lust or pleasure but no one is.  No one is simply an object to be jeered, ogled, ignored, hated, etc.  While Barbie didn’t say it in this way, no one is simply an object because every one is a child of God.

When it comes to this teaching of Jesus, it isn’t simply carrying that ancient understanding forward but instead holding to the spirit of it and looking at it through the lens of how all people are created in the image of God and deserve to be treated as such.