According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, on average, one woman a week is murdered by her current partner. One in three Australian women have experienced physical violence and one in five have experienced sexual violence since the age of fifteen. One in four Australian women have experienced physical, sexual, or emotional abuse from a current or former partner. Almost ten women a day are hospitalised for injuries received from a spouse or domestic partner. These are heartbreaking figures, yet the personal stories are far worse. One frequently heard refrain is that when women have come to the church for help or advice, they have received a sermon on the sanctity of marriage and been advised to return to the relationship.

Our reading today comes from the Gospel according to Mark where Jesus is challenged about His view on the Law concerning divorce. While it is clearly an attempt to trip Him up, what Jesus does provide is His view on why there is a Law for divorce in the first place. In a time when women were seen as the property of men, they could be discarded like any other unwanted asset. They would be unable to remarry and would be reduced to begging to survive. As far as Jesus is concerned, a law allowing divorce was created to give the woman at least some rights and attempt restore her status to more where God saw her, as an equal partner to another. A law regulating divorce was necessary because people were unable to treat other people well. The law came about as an attempt to prevent an even greater harm occurring.

It may well be God’s will for a couple to live together, but humans cannot always do so. It is definitely God’s will for couples to treat each other with love, care, and compassion. If one spouse treats the other as property and abuses them, why would we think Jesus would apply a different standard? It cannot be right for one party to insist that it is God’s will that marriage is for life while ignoring God’s will that we love and care for each other. Obviously, it is better if the behaviours can be addressed, but if there is no prospect of this, I cannot counsel one party to return to an abusive relationship. The harm caused by this is far greater than any harm caused by the breakdown of a marriage. We are called to act as healers, as expressions of God’s grace. We are to provide a safe place for the weak, the vulnerable and the wronged. We are to offer forgiveness and grace rather than insist on legalistic interpretations that cause greater harms and deeper divisions in society. Maybe the church needs to seek to soften human hearts in how we behave towards each other rather than harden them to stick to the letter of the Law?