Concerning Marriage and Divorce

["Click here for Matthew's account"]
["Click here for Mark's account"]

Jesus had left the area of Galilee for the last time and headed over to the Jordan River where he started south toward Jerusalem. Large crowds had followed Him and with them were some Pharisees who had come to temp Him with a question. "Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife (divorce her) for any cause?"
Earlier in His ministry in Galilee, He had answered this question. They obviously knew this. He had expressed his opinion against divorce, which was contrary to common practice, and the Pharisees, seeking to gain support in their case against Jesus sought to bring the question up again. The practice of divorce was a liberty that the people had enjoyed sense the time of Moses and they were not about to relinquish it.
Moses, as Jesus reminded them, allowed divorce because of the "hardness of their hearts", not because he believed it was right. But these people had come to believe that divorce was not just something Moses tolerated, but was one of his Laws. Thus this put Jesus in opposition to the "Laws of Moses". The Laws concerning marriage had become so complex because of the low estate of women and because of the practice of polygamy that often divorce seemed the only solution.
Notice the question concerned "divorce for any cause". Divorce in cases of infidelity was allowed but this had been extended, because of the lusts of men, to be allowed for any reason. Should this be so, was the question. To answer this question, Jesus reminded them of some fundamental laws of God that were laid down from the beginning. Jesus makes three points:

In the beginning, God created them male and female. They were inseparable and of one flesh because God had made Eve from the rib of Adam. Also, they were created in God's own image. They were also made inseparable by a "covenant" (marriage) or agreement of unity for life, which was eternal at that time for Adam and Eve.
The fundamental law of marriage was made, that is, that man shall leave his father and mother and "cleave" to his wife. The relationship between husband and wife is nearer than that of parent and child.
The nature of a marriage contract is a union of two persons, God joining together what He instituted and created. Hence, what God has joined together, let no man put asunder.

Jesus used scripture to support his position and the Pharisees used scripture to support theirs. Moses commanded that a writ of divorcement be given in case a man would want to put away his wife, but Jesus corrects them and explains that this was not a commandment, it was only being tolerant of an impossible situation. In the beginning, it was not so.
Then the Disciples got into the argument for it would seem that they to were reluctant to give up their freedom of divorce, they conclude that if divorce was not lawful, than it would be better if a man did not get married. To this, Jesus agrees, to the extent that an unmarried man would be free to engage in the things of the Spirit and not taken up with earthly things. The truth is that not all men are able to do this and rather than put yourself in a position of temptation, it is better to marry.

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