I’ve used the illustration before about the beautiful half-time show that the marching band puts on. I often use a video like this one:
Pretty impressive, eh?
But I bet it wasn’t nearly as cool if you were on the field and viewing things only from that perspective. When we view things from the ground instead of the grandstand we often miss the beauty and brilliance of what is going on. The same is true of life.
And it is because of this principle that I think we really ought to change the chapter headings for Mark 10. Most Bible’s have something about “Teaching on Divorce”. While I agree that this passage is about divorce, I believe it is first and foremost about the beauty of marriage.
In fact the problem with the Pharisees—and the first century cultural climate on divorce—is that they started viewing things from the field instead of the grandstands. They were asking questions about what is permissible in divorce instead of asking questions about God’s grand purpose for marriage. This is why the Pharisees were making a point of debate out of a point of pain.
We’ll end up in the same faulty spot if we view things from the ground. We will ask the wrong questions of the text. We’ll wonder how close we can get to the line of sin instead of fixing our eyes on God’s beautiful intentions for our holiness and our marriages.
And so because of this I’d really love to see this section entitled “Teachings on Marriage”. If we really get what Jesus says here about marriage then we’ll truly be in a position to understand the travesty of divorce. But viewed only from the ground we’ll start arguing about the ins and outs of divorce. View it with the eyes of Jesus and the fog will begin to lift and we’ll start asking the right questions.
