Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” – Mark 10:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 3, 2017): Mark 10

Philosopher Immanuel Kant said that “Morality is not the doctrine of how we may make ourselves happy, but how we may make ourselves worthy of happiness.” Morality speaks to something deep inside of us. It does not speak to us as individuals, but to us as integral members of our communities. Morality upholds the idea of we rather than the idea of me. And as we act in the direction of the idea of we, we make ourselves worthy of happiness.

Morality is not a reflection of the law. In some ways, the idea of morality is the opposite of the idea of the law. Both are necessary for community to exist, but morality is the high water mark, it is the target toward which we try to aim, while the law is the low water mark, it is the minimum that must be acted upon in order for community to exist. And the difference between the religious establishment in Jesus day and Jesus was reflected in the difference between what is moral and what is the law.

So some Pharisees come to Jesus and ask this question – “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” When we hear the question, we should understand that the Pharisees are asking about the low water mark, what is the minimum that we are required to do. And the answer to this minimum question is that it is permissible as long as the divorce is acted on publically and the woman is given a certificate of divorce, which essentially officially freed the woman to live her life as best as she could. In ancient society, the existence of a divorced woman was a troubled one, but at least she could make the best of her unfortunate situation.

But Jesus response is more this; why are you aiming at what is permissible under the law? As the religious and moral leaders of Israel, why do you not lift up your eyes from the minimum to the moral target at which we should be aiming? The truth is that what is legal does not lift us up to the response that God expects of us. This difference is also reflected in the gap between law and grace. Grace always goes beyond the law and too often we seem to believe the reverse. Grace is part of a morality that stretches us toward something more, not something less. And the truth is that I want to live in a moral society, not a legal one; I want to live in a community that is dominated by grace. I want to be challenged toward the most that we can do, and not the least that is available to us, allowing us to survive. I don’t want to be just happy, but I want to be worthy of that happiness.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Luke 18