Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”

“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, 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.”

“Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”

Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning.  I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”

The disciples said to him, “If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.”

Jesus replied, “Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given.  For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others—and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.”

Matthew 19:2 – 12

It seems strange to me that the Pharisees should have asked about divorce as Jesus was moving toward Jerusalem, and the Cross.  I suppose the key to understanding their question is found in the phrase, “Some Pharisees came to him to test him.”  They are still hoping to discredit Jesus by getting him to debate with them about matters of the Law, now regarding marriage and divorce.  The Pharisees had strict laws about such things while the Sadducees were more tolerant.

Jesus based his answer on Moses as well.  He said that Moses allowed for divorce in some cases, “because your hearts were hard.”  Not “their hearts” but “your hearts.”  Jesus reminded them that Moses made allowance for human weakness.  Their position on the Law did not permit this interpretation.  They would not agree for a moment that their hearts were hard.  They did not pay much attention to what is on the heart, but on the Law of Moses!

Of course, the Pharisees would not agree that their hearts were hard.  They prided themselves in obeying that Law precisely as their way of pleasing God.  They were obedient to the letter.

Once again, Jesus pointed to the grace of God that made a way for sinners, in contrast to the Pharisees who saw themselves as righteous, certainly not sinners in need of grace.