061008 Mark 10:2-16 Jesus is my Friend

One of the problems with the lectionary reading is that the next passage about Jesus welcoming the children over His adult followers' objections is the practical, logical and moral justification for the earlier prohibition from divorce and sexual immorality.
In one of my personal injury cases a traveling salesman had driven too fast over the Missouri River on I-40 and spun out so as to block both west bound lanes. My client was driving a 18 wheeler loaded with sloshing Brazilian orange juice on the way from New York to LA. Her last thought before miraculously skating her tractor and rig on all left tires with the right wheels over the bridge guard railing, then clearing the salesman's Cadillac before slamming her left side on the opposite pavement and breaking her back to a quadriplegic state - the last thought was - "I have to save the children." The salesman's pots and pans looked like children's heads to my truck driver and after the accident, he she drove off, seemingly unscathed by it all. Sadly, it is very much like that with divorce.
Every year, over one-million children suffer their parents' divorce. Two-hundred-thousand of those end up seriously troubled by the experience. Children of divorce are five times more likely to be expelled or suspended from school, three times as likely to require psychological counseling, two times as likely to repeat a grade, and face a 50% greater probability of going through a divorce themselves in later life. Dr. Judith Wallerstein says, "If children had a vote, there would be no divorce." Jesus is asked to caste His vote about divorce today, and He is just as adamant. Matthew 5:32 and Luke 16:18 underscore His verdict for the same reasons. 1 Corinthians 7:10-11 says. "And to the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband: But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife." Let’s examine how two Christian men deal with this:
Friendship with Jesus is about Obedience
Psalm 142:8 asks God to "Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul."
Prior to Jon E. Thompson's divorce in Oregon, he had not spent much time reading the Bible. But he began to read the Bible each day after his friend Raymond showed him that the word of God is not just words in a book but life itself. Proverbs 4:21-22 says: "Let them not depart from your eyes; keep them in the middle of your heart. For they are life to those that find them, and health to all their flesh."
Like Jon Thompson, each day, God's word is ready to illuminate many of my faults so that I may be a better husband for Annemarie. I can also learn from the experiences of the children of Israel or Jesus' disciples, seeing in myself some of the same faults they have. I can also find the same solution they and Jon Thompson did -- obey God's commandments.
Maybe you have always felt like I have - that I loved God, but Jesus said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments" (John 14:15). Jon says, "What's most important is not what I think it means to love God but what God says it means. The Bible is teaching me how to have a true relationship with God. I am still tempted to sin, and it's not always easy to resist. But by planting God's word in my heart through regular reading and contemplation, I'm learning that I can bear any temptation. God is giving me the strength to change behaviors and attitudes that contributed to my past failures. And in the process, I am also learning to love God the way the Bible tells me to -- by obeying God's directions."
Friendship with Jesus Rescues Me When I Trust in Him
Psalm 28:7 says, "The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him."
Geoge Childree of Alabama had an experience like mine when our dog Blacky picked one of our children's Bibles to play with when they were young. Blacky would have completely destroyed it, but we mended most of the damage.
Other families in our neighborhood and of those in my client's families were torn apart due to painful divorce like George’s that left them "with nothing but a broken heart and a lot of hopeless dreams." George describes it like this: "At times I felt that something had taken hold of my life and was tearing it all to pieces" like that dog with the Bible.
The closest thing to George’s hurt was when my parents died. I couldn’t go on. I cried out to the Lord Jesus, asking him to forgive my sins. I confessed what a mess I had made of my life, and asked him to take charge of it. I kept praying, "create in me a clean heart oh God, and renew in me a right spirit. Cast me not from Your presence, and don't take your holy Spirit from me" (Psalm 51:10-11).
The Lord didn't seem to rescue me immediately, but I gradually noticed how God loves me more than the sense of being just a “thing” tossed about in this world. God was putting my life back together by helping others who really counted more than the things we seemed to be controlled by. Death and separation still happen, but God gives hope where there seems to be no hope, compassion where loves seems to be lost. God’s community (kingdom) mends separation and divorce. No matter what happens, God will see you through any problem or challenge, if you’ll just trust and obey.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for your word that constantly reminds us of your love for us. In the face of sin and loss, You offer forgiveness and help those going through separation or divorce. Father, strengthen us so that we can resist temptation. Give us Your faithfulness and love that helps us to trust and obey Your words of the Bible. In the precious name of Jesus Christ, forgive us of all our sins and renew in us a right spirit of trust and obedience to You and to those who truly follow Your will. Amen.