Instead of promoting Himself, Jesus constantly served others and put their interests ahead of His own. Not only His teaching, but His very life was a threat to the religious leaders of the time. His humility, service and righteousness exposed their pride and hypocrisy. The religious leaders tried their best to discredit Jesus. The problem was that the miracles Jesus performed validated His message and proved He was from God.
Since they could not deny that the miracles Jesus performed were genuine, the leaders tried to discredit Him another way. In chapter 10, verses 1 through 12 of the Gospel which bears his name Mark writes, “He arose from there and came into the borders of Judea and beyond the Jordan. Multitudes came together to him again. As he usually did, he was again teaching them. Pharisees came to him testing him, and asked him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” He answered, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a certificate of divorce to be written, and to divorce her.” But Jesus said to them, “For your hardness of heart, he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female. For this cause a man will leave his father and mother, and will join to his wife, and the two will become one flesh, so that they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.” In the house, his disciples asked him again about the same matter. He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife, and marries another, commits adultery against her. If a woman herself divorces her husband, and marries another, she commits adultery.””
On the surface, the question the Pharisees asked could be taken as a genuine request for information. However, Mark indicates that these men were not sincerely seeking to know God’s will. Instead they asked their question to test Jesus. If they could get Him to say something which was contrary to the Law of Moses, they could label Jesus as a blasphemer or a heretic. Perhaps another reason they asked this particular question was that this incident took place in the area ruled by Herod Antipas. Herod had already arrested and executed John the Baptist because John had declared that Herod’s divorce and remarriage was illegal. If Jesus took the same position, perhaps Herod would arrest Him too.
If the intent was to catch Jesus saying something contrary to the Law of Moses, the Pharisees set themselves up for disappointment. Since Jesus came from God and only preached the message God gave Him, His words would never contradict any message God had already given.
Instead of trapping Jesus, Jesus trapped the Pharisees. The Pharisees were a group of men who had dedicated themselves to keeping the Law of Moses. Since they were experts in the Law, Jesus turned their question about divorce on its head by asking them what law Moses had given them concerning divorce. There is an important principle here. If we already know what God’s word says about a certain topic, then there is no need to ask someone to tell us what it says. If we do, it calls our own motives into question. Either we are seeking an excuse to disobey what God has said, or we are trying to discredit the person we ask.
In reply to Jesus the Pharisees had no option but to quote the Law: Moses permitted divorce. Jesus could have said, “You’ve answered your own question,” and left it there. However, Jesus went on to talk about the reason God, through Moses, permitted divorce and, in so doing, subtly encouraged the Pharisees to examine their own motives. Yes, Moses permitted divorce, but that was not God’s intention. God’s intent was for a man and woman to become one for life through the covenant of marriage. In marriage the two persons become a single organism. Since God joins the two together in marriage, people should not tear that union apart. From this we learn that not everything which is legal is ethical or moral. God permitted divorce, not because He desires it but as an expedient because men’s hearts are hard. By divorcing his or her spouse a marriage partner rejects the will of God.
When the disciples asked Jesus to clarify His teaching, Jesus went on to say that divorcing and remarrying is equivalent to committing adultery. Needless to say, this teaching is not welcome by people who have hard or selfish hearts.
Jesus’ disciples exhibited another form of hard heart. In verses 13 through 16 Mark writes, “They were bringing to him little children, that he should touch them, but the disciples rebuked those who were bringing them. But when Jesus saw it, he was moved with indignation, and said to them, “Allow the little children to come to me! Don’t forbid them, for God’s Kingdom belongs to such as these. Most certainly I tell you, whoever will not receive God’s Kingdom like a little child, he will in no way enter into it.” He took them in his arms, and blessed them, laying his hands on them.”
Those who think too highly of themselves tend to look down on those whom they regard of less importance. In the view of the disciples, children were insignificant and not worth bothering a great man like Jesus about. Even if the disciples were merely trying to spare Jesus from interruption or overwork, their actions infuriated Jesus. Earlier Mark wrote that Jesus proclaimed that some among those gathered around Him would witness the Kingdom of God come with power (Mark 9:1). Here the the disciples were turning away the very people who belonged to the Kingdom.
Why did Jesus say that the Kingdom belongs to those who are childlike? It is because children are receptive. In spite of all their learning, most of the religious leaders rejected Jesus and cast doubt on His character. Luke writes in his account of this same incident that Jesus called the children to Him (Luke 18:16). In contrast to the religious leaders, when Jesus called, the children came to Him and accepted Him. When the children came, Jesus placed His hands on them and blessed them.
The same principle applies to us today. We cannot reject the King and still enter the Kingdom. We cannot receive Christ’s blessing without coming to Him. Each one of us needs to look into our own hearts: Have we accepted King Jesus with the same trust and confidence as a little child? Or are our hearts still hard and unbelieving?