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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
When at the first wedding ceremony in this world’s history, the Lord God himself led the bride to the altar and gave her to her bridegroom, there was nothing but joy. This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh, Adam exclaimed. There was his newly wedded wife, beautifully adorned in pure righteousness and holiness without any sin, a helper comparable and fit to him. God made them male and female and he made them for marriage. He created and instituted that estate to be in a state of joy and gladness. No coincidence therefore that our salvation is also likened to a marriage.
Not only do we see our Lord as the first groomsman and the first one to officiate a wedding, we also see our Lord as a bridegroom himself. He takes his chosen people, his church, as his bride. And because he himself paid for all her sins and covered them, he rejoices again over his wife. This is what we hear in the prophet Isaiah, where he writes, “You shall no longer be termed forsaken, nor shall your land any more be termed desolate, but you shall be called, My delight is in her, and your land married. For the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married. For as a young man marries a virgin, so shall your sons marry you. And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.”
Marriage was made so that husband and wife may rejoice in the gift that the Lord gives them with each other. And not just that, he also gave them a purpose. He said, “be fruitful and multiply.” So already right at the beginning, our God proves himself to be a lover of children. He was waiting for Adam and Eve to bring their little children to him that he might bless them. And the same we have in our text from St. Mark, that the joy of marriage and the joy of children, these two things that were already there at the very beginning. And these children then become an example for us because we too have to receive the kingdom of God like the children.
But of course there’s also something else in that debate between Jesus and the Pharisees and the disciples. Destruction entered this world, destroying the beautiful joy of marriage, staining it with horrible darkness, leading to strife and contention, neglect and despise. Man’s sin introduced the idea of tearing apart a oneness that God himself instituted. So these three things, the goodness of marriage, the question of divorce and the faith of little children is what our text requires us to take to heart today.
Firstly, the goodness of marriage. It is very beautiful how the Lord Jesus shifts the focus of the question. He goes back to creation and quotes from Genesis 1 and 2, and not to talk about divorce but to talk about God’s good creation and his institution of marriage. Jesus, the one who is God in the flesh, through whom the Father created the whole universe, he reiterates and affirms the first two chapters in the Bible. So, far from being a mythological account, he treats Genesis as history and as foundational for human society. And if there was any doubt about the creation account, which should not have been there anyways, Jesus makes it clear. The creation account from Genesis 1 and 2 is to be believed and it is foundational.
Now the world rages against that but the words stand here like a fortress. He made them male and female and for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. Now it is beautiful what the Lord in his divine authority adds to these words from Genesis. Not only the obvious but necessary conclusion. He says so then they are no longer two but one flesh but also he says what God has joined together let not man separate. It is God who joins together husband and wife and Jesus is not just talking about Adam and Eve because remember he is answering a question about divorce and he’s saying God is the one who marries husband and wife.
In this way marriage is an earthly thing as Luther says, earthly in the sense that it pertains to this time and this age as opposed to heaven. Even non-Christians who are publicly married without the church are married in the eyes of God. So while marriage pertains to this world and is thus earthly for Christians, it is nevertheless a holy covenant and a holy estate because God created it and he sanctified it. So while the public consent of the two constitutes the marriage, it is still God who marries husband and wife. It is his gift for us and his blessing.
This also means that a pious husband or wife is a gift of the Lord. And as with all gifts, the Lord desires to be asked for it. So for all those singles among us who desire to find a husband or wife, start by this: start by falling on your knees and asking your dear Father in heaven to provide for you, to give you a spouse. Pray for a spouse that fits you and especially one with whom you can go to church together. And for all those married among us, thank the Lord for the gift that he has already given you. And not just that, let’s also pray that the Lord would uphold this marriage. There are many crosses that fall upon this blessed estate, as you all know. There are on the one hand all the difficulties of life, worry about money, finances, and health, and children. Sometimes there’s even the death of children that parents have to suffer, and many other hardships.
And then there is your own sin. How much easier would marriage be if there wasn’t any sin? The person that you should love the most, that you are closest to, suddenly becomes the one that you fight with most, and at times becomes even hard to love. I don’t think I need to bring many examples here. But what I do need to do is underline the sweet comforts of our dear Lord. In his love, he strengthens us. He helps you carry all these crosses that are too heavy for you to bear by your own strength. He provides you with the daily bread. He provides you with the necessary finances, even if you don’t see how that can be possible. He watches over your children, and he helps you taking care of your ill spouse. And most importantly, he forgives all your sins against your husband. He forgives all your sins against your wife.
In His divine love, He carried those sins and nailed them to the cross. In this love, your marriage stands. In this love, He attached you closely to your spouse, yoked you together, as the Greek says, and made you one flesh. In this love, He also upholds your marriage. And as he unites all Christians through the one baptism and the one bread and the one cup in the Holy Sacrament, so he also unites and reunites husband and wife. So think about this when you come to the altar today, that the Lord unites you to himself and to each other by the drinking and by the eating and drinking of his holy body and holy blood.
Now diametrically opposed to this beautiful union of husband and wife stands the Pharisee’s question. Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife? We can see here a great example of how Jesus deals with those who come to test him. He throws the question back to them and gives them a lesson on Holy Scripture. Jesus does not replace Moses with a new law. He doesn’t do that in the Sermon on the Mount either, but he needs to show the Pharisees all they knew what Moses actually says. So what does Moses say? What did he command? Which commandment should we all be thinking about when asking about the dissolving of the holy covenant of marriage? You shall not commit adultery, Moses says.
But isn’t it fascinating? They jumped to the only passage from the books of Moses that talks about the certificate of divorce in Deuteronomy 24. Now it’s very interesting what Deuteronomy 24 does not say. It does not say if you want to get divorced it’s fine go ahead write a certificate of divorce. Instead, that passage is an if-then statement. God already foresaw the hardness of hearts and the sinfulness of the Israelite men who wanted to divorce their wives. So, in order to prevent further evil, he gave a specific commandment. He said, if a woman is remarried after divorce and then divorces again, she shall not return to the old husband and marry him again.
Now, the Pharisees looked at that statement and said, well, clearly, God allowed us to divorce our wives. He’s totally fine with it, so let’s go ahead. But that is a grave error. That is the hardness of hearts, the stubbornness and sinfulness that God foresaw. But against this hardness of hearts stands the sixth commandment. So while God allowed divorce to happen, as He allows other bad things to happen, and in that sense permitted it, He never approved of it. Divorce always had the Lord’s displeasure. Now we know from St. Matthew that there is the exception of adultery and sexual immorality and that is the only legitimate reason for divorce and remarriage that our Lord gives. And of course, if someone is being abandoned and deserted against his own will, that is also a different question.
But besides these, the Lord Jesus makes it clear very drastically. If someone marries a new spouse after divorce, he commits adultery. He does not call the divorce adultery, he calls the new marriage adultery. Why? Because the old marriage still exists in the eyes of God. Now after these harsh words, the disciples prove that they also need to be rebuked for their hard hearts when they rebuke and hinder the children from coming to Jesus. I had already mentioned that marriage and children belong together. And so, again, it is no coincidence that St. Mark records the blessing of the children right after this debate about marriage.
So we will lastly ponder on that, that the Lord gives the kingdom of God to such who are like their little children. What does he mean by that? Why does he say, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it? The point is that children who believe in the Lord Jesus demonstrate to us best what it means to receive. Children receive. That’s why they need parents. So likewise in faith, we need to receive everything out of the gracious hands of our Heavenly Father. We cannot contribute anything of our own except our neediness and our sinfulness. We cannot even bring our good desires and our decision. And the Lord Jesus wants to bless us nevertheless. Or rather, only then, when we don’t contribute anything, he wants to bless us.
He wants to take us up on his arms, lay his hands on us, and bless us. Especially he calls the little children to himself. This is exactly what happened today in the baptism of little Anna. The Lord Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not forbid them, for of such is the kingdom of God.” And you dear parents, you heeded the call in faith and you brought your newborn daughter to her shepherd and Redeemer. Now it’s true that our text doesn’t mention baptism by name, and Jesus did not pour water on those children in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but Jesus encountered them physically. He took them on his arms, laid his hands on them, and he blessed them in order to strengthen them with the Holy Spirit. This is exactly what happens in baptism.
The Lord Jesus is in that water, uniting himself to a lost sinner to forgive all sins and cleanse from all unrighteousness. So dear Anna, you are a redeemed and beloved child of God, and we pray that the Lord would keep you in the one true faith all the days of your life. And as Anna received this gift of salvation in her baptism and trusting faith, as we certainly believe, we too have to believe, we have to receive that in the same faith every day. And this is why it’s good that this text is not just read at infant baptisms but also at adult baptisms. Especially to the adult it must be said, receive the kingdom of God like a little child.
So all of you who have been baptized in Christ Jesus, have received that grace of God, have been freed from the lordship of the devil, and placed under the rule of Christ. So hold onto that entrusting faith. Become like the little children with their simplicity and humility, this simplicity and humility that flow out of such a faith. And in that faith, we receive the Lord’s gifts of marriage and children rightly so then they are no longer two but one flesh and let the little children come to me and do not forbid them the joy of marriage and the joy of children, two wonderful gifts from the loving hand of our Heavenly Father. May he grant us that childlike faith and give us his Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ our Lord.
