Does God Hate Those Who Divorce?

In Dr. Tracey Shenell’s remarkable sermon yesterday, she addressed head on the question of whether God hates those who divorce their spouses. It was refreshing to hear her own honesty of struggling with preconceived notions of what marriage is and the shame that followed her divorce.

The religious leaders said said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.”  “It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,” Jesus replied (Mark 10:4-5).

Dr. Tracey pointed out that she’d been taught that Jesus was upset with divorcees when he spoke about hardness of heart - that the divorcee was resisting God by getting divorced. But after facing these scriptures head on, she realized that instead, Jesus was confronting the (male) religious leaders who were using technicalities in the law to exploit women. Like her son who would ‘buy’ a gadget from the store and use till just before the 30 or 60 day return policy expired and then send it back and get a refund, men in Jesus’s day were doing the same with women.

Far from condemning the women, Jesus was criticizing how the men were commodifying women and ‘trading them in’ if and when they were found objectionable in any way.

What have been your attitudes towards divorcees (note, this may well include yourself)? Are there ways you’ve used divorce or other technicalities of religion or law to exploit others? Are there divorcees in your life right now who might need some extra community or care that you could provide these days?