Better Not

Matthew 19:10 - The disciples said to him, "If such is the relationship between a man and his wife, it is not profitable to marry."

Paraphrase, "What good is property if you cannot trade it in for a newer, better-working model some day?" Women were property, not really people - at least legally speaking.

Looking at it on the surface and assuming good faith by the author, Jesus has been telling them their hard hearts induced Moses to allow divorce. (BTW - that would be Moses making up a law, rather than it being handed down from God ...) Jesus tells them God makes marriages. In fact, marriage is the analogy the prophets used for Israels relationship with God. Marriage is sacred to God.

So Jesus says, "Hey, have a heart. Women are people and deserve our protection. Let's not throw them to the wolves because they no longer attract us," and the disciples, knowing that God thinks of their relationship as akin to marriage respond, "It's better not to marry." Wow. Of course, the question begging to be asked here: Was Matthew (the author) merely painting them to look bad? Was he trying to skewer society by putting its norms in the words of the disciples? How much is caricature and how much reality? Are they Types that Matthew's readers and listeners would recognize?

In any case, the conversation shows the chasm between Jesus' way of being and thinking and the disciples' way of being and thinking. The disciples and Jesus are using the same words, but they're not using them the same way; not talking about the same things. And, since the disciples are stand-ins for us, it demonstrates the chasm between our thinking and Jesus' thinking. This is true regardless of whether the disciples are portrayed realistically. We may not be as obtuse or incurious as the disciples, but neither are we as astute as Jesus. We are the people with hardened hearts, we are the people who treat others (esp. women and people of color) as objects rather than subjects with agency, and to the extent that we stray from focusing on God and God's Kin-dom, we are the people committing adultery. 

We are the people making decisions for our comfort and convenience. To what degree are your thoughts out of step with God's? Today I pray to be shown where my thinking and attitude are in error.
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