SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/18/2023 4:52 PM
My Worship Time PT-1 “The
Appropriation”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Matt. 19:10-12
Message of the verses: “10 The disciples said
to Him, "If the relationship of the man with his wife is like this, it is
better not to marry." 11 But He said to them, "Not all men can
accept this statement, but only those to whom it has been given. 12 “For
there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother’s womb; and there
are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men; and there are also eunuchs who
made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able
to accept this, let him accept it.’”
I think that we can be assured that by this time the
Pharisees had left the scene as it was only Jesus and His disciples who were
involved in this conversation. I think
it is also true that by this time that the Pharisees were enraged, both because
they hand not succeeded in making Jesus contradict Moses and also because, on
the contrary, Jesus succeeded in showing that they themselves were condemned by
Moses in their illegitimate divorces and consequent adulteries.
I mentioned that Jesus was now alone
with His disciples and this can be confirmed by looking at Mark 10:10 “In the house the disciples began questioning Him
about this again.” It seems that the disciples felt free to talk to
Jesus about the subject of divorce now because they were alone with Him. It is possible that the disciples had earlier
spoken to Jesus about the subject of divorce, but now would be the time to do
it again as the subject has come up with the Pharisees. One has to remember that the disciples were taught
by what the Pharisees were teaching and may have then had trouble with what
Jesus was saying to them because of that earlier teaching. So the disciples said to Jesus "If the
relationship of the man with his wife is like this, it is better not to
marry."
John MacArthur quotes from the Talmudic writings to
give us an idea of what the disciples may have learned from: “A bad wife is like leprosy to her
husband. What is the remedy? Let him divorce her and be cured of his
leprosy.” “Another rabbi wrote, ‘If a
man has a bad wife, it is a religious duty to divorce her.’”
Today
is Saturday and my SD’s are usually shorter on both Saturday and Sunday’s and
so I will end this quotation with a paragraph from John MacArthur’s
commentary.
“The
difference between what the disciples had been taught all their lives and what
Jesus was teaching was so radical that they were completely bewildered. It is probable that they had looked on
marriage like most of their Jewish male counterparts—and like many people today—believing
that if things did not work out, there was always divorce as an out. But if adultery is the only justification for
divorce, they concluded, it is better not to marry.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I have to say that after listening to
MacArthur’s sermons on this subject, and there was about four hours of sermons
on this subject, that I know a lot more about marriage and divorce, and for that
I am thankful.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Learn to be
a better husband to my wife of almost 50 years.
2/18/2023 5:14 PM
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