The passage
      v1. Jesus continues his journey toward Jerusalem. Now again in Judea, he resumes his public ministry.
      v2-4. The Pharisees "test" (try to entrap) Jesus over the issue of divorce. They saw in Jesus one who came to "abolish the Law" (eg. "the Sabbath is made for man, not man for the Sabbath"). In their eyes, Jesus was a libertine (he came "eating and drinking"). The Pharisees understood that the Mosaic provision on divorce rested on the ground of "something shameful", Deut.24:1. Shammai argued that the "shame" was a moral fault, eg. adultery. Hillel widened the "shame", eg. embarrassing a husband.
      v5. Jesus adopts his usual stance with law-righteous legalists; he heads for the high moral ground, ie. there are no grounds for divorce. The Mosaic provision serves only as a rule of thumb for a people entrapped in sin, a rule which even then many are unable to keep "because their hearts were hard" (a conscience calloused by sin).
      v6-8. Quoting Gen.1:27, 2:24, Jesus defines God's ideal for marriage. A man and a woman bonded socially, physically and psychologically, are bound in a one-flesh union (the two become one).
      v9. As the union is God designed, it is inappropriate for it to be severed for any reason.
      v10-12. The disciples ask Jesus to explain what he has just told the Pharisees. Jesus uses the word "adultery" (Ex.20:14) to define the immorality of divorce. He illustrates two specifics not covered in the rabbinic courts.
        i] A husband commits adultery by divorcing his wife and marrying another. A man could commit adultery against another man by seducing the wife, but it was unheard-of to suggest that he committed adultery by divorcing his own wife. Based on the "one flesh" theology, he commits adultery in remarriage, and is also technically responsible for his wife's adultery when/if she remarries.
        ii] A wife who "deserts" (rather than "divorces") her husband and marries another commits adultery. This is what Herodias did when she left Philip to marry Antipas. Under Jewish law, a woman cannot divorce her husband.
      Matthew records the disciples' exclamation, "it is better not to marry." The ideal of a divorce-free marriage is an impossible one; who can guarantee that their marriage won't fail? Of course, the whole exercise is aimed to arrive at this conclusion. If law-obedience can't save, what can?
      v13. Children were brought to Jesus to secure a blessing for their future life. The disciples, acting outside their authority, sought to "forbid them."
      v14. Jesus responds sharply in both a positive and negative command. The disciples have again failed to understand that the kingdom of God is possessed by children, ie. by the humble little ones who seek the blessing of eternity on the basis of the kind mercy of God found in Jesus.
      v15. The kingdom can only be entered by someone who knows that they are helpless and without claim to merit (law obedience).
      v16. By taking the children and blessing them, Jesus signifies that the blessings of the kingdom are freely given to those who seek them.

Divorce
      The refusal of some churches to marry divorcees (unless they are regular attenders, and/or the innocent party) not only causes great offence, but demonstrates a misunderstanding of Jesus' ethical teaching.
      The apostle Paul serves as the interpreter (exegete) of Jesus. When Paul's theology of justification by grace through faith is read back into the gospels, it becomes clear that Jesus' use of ethical ideals serve to expose sin rather than establish laws to be obeyed. That is, Jesus uses ideals to "fulfill the law" as an instrument of judgement upon sin. Having exposed the human condition, and the worthlessness of law-righteousness as a means of salvation, he is then able to point to the way of grace through faith.
      Jesus exposes the feeble law-righteousness of the Pharisees when he shows that divorce has no place in the ideal of the one-flesh union of marriage. The breakdown of so many marriages should remind us that righteousness is a blessing given freely by God to those who seek it, rather than do it; it is for little "children".
      When it comes to marriage and divorce, we must aim at God's ideal intentions for our one-flesh union. When we find our marriage under stress, we should work at reconciliation. Yet, relationships do break down, and in the end we are sometimes forced to live with some sort of compromise, or even the end our marriage. As outlined in the law (Deut.24:1-4), we need to do this justly, with care and consideration for the other party. Of course, divorce falls short of God's ideals, but then we all fall short, every day of our life. Faced with our sin, we daily find ourselves at the foot of the cross.
      So, divorce may remind us of our imperfection, but does not affect our eternal standing before God, and so it should not affect our standing in church.