Tuesday, August 15: “Go Back Further”
Mark 10: 2-4: “Some Pharisees came up to Jesus, testing Him, and began to question Him whether it was lawful for a man to divorce his wife. And He answered and said to them, ‘What did Moses command you?’ They said, ‘Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.’”
The Pharisees weren’t looking for religious instruction from Jesus, they were looking for validation. They had seen His deep knowledge of the Word, and they knew what Moses had seemingly commanded. But Jesus didn’t fall back on the Law; He went back 2500 years earlier than that, to what God had spoken at the time of creation. So instead of validation, the Pharisees got conviction (which they promptly rejected). For over three years they tried these mind games with Jesus; never once did they win. Why scheme and lose, when you can obey and triumph?
