The two shall be one

Jesus' attitude toward marriage was strongly positive. In a day when by religious law divorce was relatively easy, Jesus raised the bar and called men and women to a higher level.

Here is what he said, as recorded in Mark's Gospel (emphasis added):

2Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?"

3"What did Moses command you?" he replied.

4They said, "Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away."

5"It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law," Jesus replied. 6"But at the beginning of creation God 'made them male and female.'^[a] 7'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife,^[b] 8 and the two will become one flesh.'^[c] So they are no longer two, but one. 9Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."

10When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. 11He answered, "Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. 12And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery."

One of the key points that I think Jesus is pointing out to us is that when we marry, we are no longer two individual people, we are one person. God has designed man and woman to experience a joining of hearts, minds and bodies that transcends mere living together for economic and sexual benefits.

Marriage can be just that -- a joining of convenience -- but when it is so, it misses the deep joy and satisfaction that the Creator intended a man and a woman together. God made us to be one.