And setting out from there, he went into the region of Judah beyond the Jordan and crowds gathered to him again, and as he was accustomed he taught them, and Pharisees came to him and asked him if it was lawful for a man to divorce his wife, testing him.
But he answered: ‘What did Moses command you?’
And they said: ‘Moses permitted a man “to write a certificate of divorce and to divorce”’.
But Jesus said to them; ‘Because of the hardness of your hearts he wrote this command for you. From the beginning of creation “Male and Female he made them… Because of this a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife. And the two will be one flesh.” So that they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore that which God has joined together let no man separate.’
And in the house again the disciples asked him about this.
And he said to them:
‘Whoever divorces his wife, and marries another, commits adultery against her.
And if she divorces her husband and marries another she commits adultery.’
Lord, you have given me so much,
I ask for one more thing –
a grateful heart.
George Herbert