The words, “This is how you see.” I remember hearing those words with a sense of pride and frustration in my heart as the eye doctor spoke them. I had been encouraged by my parents to go to get my eyes tested, and I thought it probably wasn’t necessary. After all, I was able to drive fine, I didn’t have much trouble seeing the board in classrooms, and I had been playing sports which supposedly required good eyesight. So, as I sat in the chair at the eye doctor, I felt pretty confident I was wasting my time.
Nonetheless, I went through all the things you’ve experienced if you’ve had your eyes tested. I had to decide if lens one or lens two was better, lens three or lens four, lens five or lens six, and so on (seemingly without end). And when I struggled to figure out which was better I merely told myself that it’s probably because these tests don’t work when you have acceptable vision.
Then the moment came, however, when the doctor put a set of lenses in front of my eyes and said, “This is how you see.” And like I said, I remember frustration and pride welling up in my heart. Pride that I was right. After all, I knew how I saw, and it was pretty good. This had to be the doctor’s way of saying, “I’m not sure why you even came today. You see this well.” Frustration because I had wasted time, knowing before I came that I saw as well as the doctor was now affirming.
Then, as I was dealing with my pride and frustration, the doctor popped down another set of lenses in front of my eyes and said, “This is how you should see.” And in that moment, all my pride and frustration disappeared as that image in front of me was remarkably better. The lines were so much sharper, and bolder, and clearer that I thought, “How in the world have I been functioning with such bad eyesight?”
And I also remember when I came back, got my glasses, and walked out of the eye doctor, it was as if I was looking at a whole new world. By that, I don’t mean that I was now looking at things that weren’t there before as if it was filled with unicorns and flying cars. I mean I saw everything there before more clearly. I especially remember looking across the street at some trees and thinking, “I can’t believe I can see the individual leaves on the tree. I didn’t think that was possible at this distance.”
Well, that experience I knew as I put on my new glasses and walked out of the eye doctor is very much like what Jesus was teaching his disciples in Mark 10. Following him wouldn’t mean that they would be taken out of this world and put in another. It wouldn’t mean that they would all of the sudden see angels on the street corners that they were blinded to before. No, walking down the streets of Capernaum would mean they would see all the same things they did before. Perhaps they would walk by a wedding ceremony, as a couple was getting married, children playing on the sidewalk, a beggar asking for money on the corner, or a wealthy person handing over to that beggar some of his possessions. A walk before following Christ and after following Christ wouldn’t mean they would see different things. But it would mean that they would see these same things differently. Like putting on new glasses reveals the intricate glories of the tree that were once masked at the same distance, so having one’s eyes opened by Christ reveals that we are to perceive some of the basic realities of life – like marriage, children, our frequent inability, or the sacrifice of things – in a different light. In fact, we’re supposed to see the glory of each.
I think that is what Jesus teaches his disciples (and us) in this text this morning: the glory of marriage, children, inability, and sacrifice. These are things that many of us experience every day. I would think a number of ladies on any given day could describe their days using the words marriage, children, inability, and sacrifice. These are common items we experience day-in and day-out, but this morning I want us to see the glory of these things through the teaching of Jesus.
So, with that, let’s first consider :
Mark tells us that as Jesus went to the region of Judea, preparing for his entry to Jerusalem where he would die, that a number of Pharisees came to Jesus with a question. Specifically, they asked him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” (v. 2). But this wasn’t a sincere question. They weren’t asking because they were intent on honoring God and wanted to know how to think on the issue of divorce. Mark tells us they were asking “in order to test him” (v. 2).
But why was that question a test? Well, there are a couple of reasons that this would be a risky question to answer. First, there was disagreement concerning what the allowable grounds were for divorce. There was one group among the Jews who taught that a man could divorce his wife if she were to commit adultery. And there was another group who taught that a man could divorce his wife for basically any reason. Anything he might find unacceptable about her was reason for divorce – even something like burning dinner. So, with there being disagreement among the Jews, if he were to side with one group over another, he would alienate some who could potentially support him, turning them into his enemies.
Second, you’ll remember that John the Baptist has already been beheaded by Antipas after being imprisoned because he told the King that he was wrong to leave his wife for another woman. So, perhaps the Pharisees thought that if Jesus gets into this issue of publicly talking about divorce, then Antipas would hear of it, and Jesus’ fate might be the same as John’s.
Finally, in order to ratchet up the pressure a bit, Mark tells us in verse 1 that there were crowds around Jesus. So, whatever his answer, it wasn’t going to be heard by a few. Many would hear and could bear witness. So, this was something that could lead Jesus into some hot water.
However, as we would assume, Jesus handles the situation gloriously. He first asks them a question: “What did Moses command you?” (v. 3). They answered by noting that Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away (v. 4).
And sure enough, they’re answering based on Deuteronomy 24:1-4, where Moses spoke about what must be done if a man was divorcing his wife – he had to give her a certificate of divorce. And the reason the law commanded this was in order to protect the woman who was being sent away by her husband. It allowed her to show that she hadn’t abandoned her husband but had a certificate of divorce. It also kept men from a practice whereby one might send his wife away in order to marry a wealthy man in order to inherit wealth upon his death and then remarry her husband who sent her away. Such an action that would be no more than treating one’s wife as a piece of property was outlawed by Moses saying that sending one’s wife away to marry another man prohibited his wife from ever remarrying her husband who sent her away. Again, it was a law meant to guard and protect the woman sent away by her husband.
So, Jesus points out to the Pharisees that the law in Deuteronomy they’re referencing was put in place in order to deal with the hardness of their hearts. It was put into place to deal with a sinful practice of men sending their wives away. In fact, Jesus points out to his own disciples in verses 11-12 that if they think they can avoid adultery simply by giving their wife a certificate of divorce before going to marrying someone else, they’re fooling themselves. Simply put, by divorcing your wife without biblical grounds for divorce and pursuing another is the same thing as pursuing another while still married. It is adultery.
And this doesn’t mean that divorce is always sin. In Matthew 19, Jesus mentions that one who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery unless the spouse has committed sexual immorality. In that case, divorce was allowable. In fact, listen to the Lord’s words concerning Israel (whom he spoke of as his bride) in Jeremiah 3:8, “For all the adulteries of that faithfulness one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce.” Thus, the Lord is even pictured as sending away Israel with a certificate of divorce because of her adulteries.
Moreover, Paul tells the believer who is married to an unbeliever that he or she should not divorce his or her spouse. However, he adds, “But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved” (1 Corinthians 7:15). Thus, as many have noted, though all divorce is caused by sin, not all divorce is sin.
However, I also want to add that those who pursue divorce without biblical grounds should be called upon to repent, and if they refuse, removed from the membership of the church because they are refusing to obey Christ. For the church to do otherwise would show an unwillingness on our part to obey Christ’s commands and an unwillingness to love our neighbor as ourselves.
But though we have discussed divorce (though admittedly without dealing with all the ins and outs of the issue), the main point of these first twelve verses is the glory of marriage. After the Pharisees ask about divorce and want to discuss Deuteronomy 24:1-4, Jesus points them to Genesis 1-2 and God’s intent for marriage.
After noting that Moses made a command in order to deal with their hardness of heart, Jesus noted, “But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate” (vv. 6-9).
What Jesus does is he points them to the glory of marriage. One might compare the Pharisees’ question about divorce to us interviewing with a banker to get a loan and our first question being, “Now, what happens if I don’t pay back this money.”
Any banker should see that as a red flag and say, “Well, that’s not how this works. Sure, there are conditions to deal with that, but that’s not why banks loan money. Loans were set up to be defaulted on.”
Similarly, marriage wasn’t instituted by God in order to end in divorce. That wasn’t God’s intention from the beginning. When he made mankind male and female (thus eliminating the notion that marriage can exist between two persons of the same sex), he called them to leave father and mother and join in a marriage union that made them one. It was (and is) a glorious institution whereby two get to come together and be one. And God’s intention was for that union to be for life. That’s the glory of marriage.
To be married is to be in a union that God has forged. It is to be in a part of an institution between a husband and a wife that gloriously pictures the relationship of Jesus Christ and his church. It is not to end in divorce. And my prayer is that our children in this church might grow up not understanding divorce up close and personal because they don’t witness it but rather grow up being able to speak of the glories of marriage because they have heard it spoken of and watched it lived out.
In a world which enters marriage with pre-packaged plans as to how to handle things when the relationship doesn’t work out, believers are to see marriage through a different lens – as a glorious work of God that shows forth the relationship of Christ and his bride, the church.
Yet, marriage is not the only thing we are to see through a new lens. As followers of Christ, we are also to see
In verses 13-16, we see that some parents were bringing their children to Jesus in order that he might lay his hands on them and bless them. However, the disciples were rebuking them. And it makes sense. Children were the lowest of society, completely dependent on others. Why would Jesus need to waste his time with children? But Jesus is indignant with the disciples, and rebuking his disciples, he takes them into his arms and blesses them. But why? What is it that Jesus understood about children that the disciples missed?
Jesus tells us in verses 14-15, as he said, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”
What Jesus is saying here is that if one is to enter the Kingdom of God (which means, receive Christ as one’s king and know salvation), then he needs to receive it like a child. But what does it mean to receive the kingdom like a child? Well, how would the disciples have understood children? They would have seen the as dependent, helpless, needy, insufficient, and trustfully following the guidance of others. And that last one (i.e., trustfully following the guidance of others) was only because they were dependent, helpless, insufficient, and needy.
But Jesus says that they are a lesson for us. As we look at our children and see their helplessness, need, insufficiency, and dependence that requires them to trustfully lean on and follow another, they are a picture to us of what we must become like in order to enter the kingdom. We cannot be saved by coming to Christ and thinking we aren’t needy or helpless. We cannot be saved by coming to Christ without a willingness to trust him because we know we’re absolutely dependent on him. And children picture that.
Now, think about the glory of children for a second because children fall into the same glorious category as marriage in that they picture a glorious truth. Just as marriage portrays the glorious relationship of Christ and his church, so children picture the necessary condition for entering Christ’s kingdom.
I mean, if it were up to us, and we were designing this world in the beginning, we might have developed some means of skipping childhood altogether. What if you could produce offspring who were fully capable adults? Jobs around the house would be easier. I mean, there would be some advantages to eliminating this time in life when we are pretty much helpless, needy, dependent, and sometimes necessarily completely trusting of another. So, why did God make childhood? Why children?
The answer is because they picture something glorious. Our needy, dependent children are a constant example of the place one must come to in order to know Christ as savior. And children picture that. Just as we can say to one, “If you want to know how Christ loves the church, just look at how it is pictured in how that man loves his wife,” so we can say, “If you want to know how we must become in our hearts in order to know Christ’s salvation, just watch that young child – needy, helpless, and dependent – knowing they have nothing to bring to the table and crying out for their parents to pick them up, nourish them, and love them.
That is how we must see children, and it’s why the ability to care for them is such a glorious calling. So, right now if your intellectual skepticism is keeping you from embracing Christ, pray that he might open your eyes and heart to see your helpless, need, and dependence and help you to trust solely in him.
Third, we see:
Jesus’ lesson about becoming like a child is given a vivid illustration in the story of the rich young man. He comes to Jesus asking “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (v. 17). And Jesus asks him why he calls him “good,” noting that only God is good.
Now, let’s first stop and ask, “Why would Jesus say that?” My guess is because this young man thought he might qualify as “good” as well. After all, when Jesus tells him the commandments, he answered, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth” (v. 20). I mean, if anyone could be right with God, it had to be this guy. He’s rich and moral. But Jesus focused on the problem. He said to the man, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me” (v. 21). And Mark tells us, “Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions” (v. 22).
Before we get into the man’s response, let’s ask why Jesus would make that demand. After all, to this point in the story, he’s not asked his disciples to sell all of their possessions and give them to the poor. Why this man? The answer seems to be that Jesus knew that riches were this man’s security. You see, in the man’s eyes, he had what he needed. He could point to his morality. He could point to his riches. He didn’t need much. Jesus tells him to abandon his riches, and he walks away. Why? Why would he walk away? Because it is a bold move to let go of every security in life and trust in Jesus alone. But that’s what’s required if we are to be saved.
We cannot be saved by trusting in Jesus and in our morality, or trusting in Jesus and our riches, or trusting in Jesus and our abilities. The rich young ruler lacked one thing. He who had so much lacked something. And what he lacked was what those children represented – an understanding that he was helpless, needy, and dependent and a willingness to trust Christ as his only security.
This is why Jesus said that it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom. It’s hard because they’re blinded to their need, insufficiency, and helpless in a way that children aren’t. But praise God, what is impossible with man Jesus reminds us is possible with God. And thankfully the Lord has opened the eyes of those of us who believe to look past our facades of security and trust in Christ alone. He’s allowed us to not only recognize but to delight in our inability and trust Christ.
Finally, we see:
Perhaps feeling a bit superior to the young man, Peter points out to Jesus in verse 28, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” That is, we’ve done what’s demanded. Whew, what a sacrifice! But Jesus points out that sacrifice for God is actually impossible. He answers Peter, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first” (vv. 29-31).
Do you see, sacrifice for the believer is a glorious thing because we cannot sacrifice more than the blessings we receive both in this life and eternity. Sure, following Christ means persecution, but it means persecution with brothers and sisters around the world. It means persecution with the comfort of Jesus Christ. It means persecution with the certainty of resurrection and eternal life.
So, let us as Christians see the glory of marriage, the glory of children, the glory of our inability, and the glory of sacrifice. In any of these areas, we can give in to self-pity, can’t we? In fact, this is no doubt the enemy’s frequent approach. He points to the struggles of your marriage, or how your marriage doesn’t seem to measure up to that of others. He points to your children and the frustrations they cause by their constant neediness and inability just to function like adults do. He points to your inabilities and pushes you to seek security in things – whether your possessions, abilities, or resources. He notes your sacrifices, pleading with you to ask if it’s really worth it. Is the sacrifice you’re making right now, driven by nothing else than your desire to obey Christ worth it? It’s cost you your family? It’s cost you peace day-in and day-out. It’s cost you money. It’s cost you leisure. It’s cost you so much.
Do you see the lenses that the enemy wants us to watch the world through? He pleads with us to get out of our difficult marriage, wallow in self-pity because of the difficulties with our children, find security in something we can put our hands on, and refuse to sacrifice or hate the sacrifices you’ve made. But Christ calls us to see the glorious gift of marriage – which we can all look at and be reminded of Christ’s commitment to us. He calls us to see the glory of children – delighting in the very elements the world despises as our children remind us how we must enter the kingdom. He calls us to see the glory of and delight in our inabilities, letting go of our securities, knowing that we can trust one who is faithful. And he calls us to let go and sacrifice, knowing that our sacrifices pale in comparison to the blessings that are ours in Christ.
So, this morning, as we come to the table, let us pray that God will help us to see with new eyes and recognize that through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, though everything in this world is the same as before, everything has changed. Amen.