love and law

Wednesday October 10th, Mark 10:  ²Some Pharisees came and tested him bay asking, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?"  Inherent in the Pharisees’ question was their understanding that only a man could divorce a woman.  They wanted to test Jesus and their aim was not for understanding but for entrapment.  One could liken it to the classic question, “Have you stopped beating your wife?" If Jesus was to answer yes to their question, he would fall into the system of power that was the Pharisees and Sadducees.  If Jesus was to say no to the question, it would pit him against the power of the recently divorced Herod and his army.  It seemed to be carefully crafted win, win situation for the Pharisees who were intent in bringing Jesus down.  Jesus however was not playing politics, oooops!  He had in mind both God's law and God's love which were always meant to be the same.  We want to separate them and in the process try to gain a bit of control.  If there is a conflict between love and law, in Jesus’ view, love always wins.