Jesus does not let us get away with nominal abiding by the law. No, his intent is for us to understand why obeying goes deeper into into this thing called love and respect for God and each other, especially in marriage.

“You know the next commandment pretty well, too: ‘Don’t go to bed with another’s spouse.’ But don’t think you’ve preserved your virtue simply by staying our of bed. Your HEART can be corrupted by lust even quicker than your body. Those leering looks you think nobody notices–they also corrupt.” Matthew 5, Msg

“Let’s not pretend this is easier than it really is. If you want to live a morally pure life, here’s what you have to do: You have to blind your right eye the moment you catch it is a lustful leer. You have to choose to live one-eyed or else be dumped on a moral trash pile. And you have to chop off your right hand the moment you notice it raised threateningly. better a bloody stump than your entire being discarded for good in the dump.” Matthew 5, Msg

“Remember the Scripture that says, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him do it legally, giving her divorce papers and her legal rights’? Too many of you are using that as a cover for selfishness and whim, pretending to be righteous just because you are ‘legal’. Please, no more pretending. If you divorce your wife, you’re responsible for making her an adulteress (unless she has already made herself that by sexual promiscuity). And if you marry such a divorced adulteress, you’re automatically an adulterer yourself. You can’t use legal cover to ask a moral failure.” Matthew 5, Msg

Society has affected the church more than the church has affected society. Today, there are just as many divorces within God’s church as there are in the world. Deep love of your spouse goes beyond the attraction of “falling in love”, dating, marrying, then going on about your days living for self. If you choose to marry, you choose to lay down your own interests for that person to love, respect and cherish until the day you both no longer abide on this earth. And even then, you look forward to an eternity of living together with God the Father! You look past their human faults with mercy and grace because you have just as many and compliment their strengths. When you pray for, live for and focus on your spouse, your head, heart and soul cannot physically, emotionally, and spiritually leer at someone else. There is no time or desire to leer and imagine life with another person.

Mm…was Jesus thinking of us, too when he taught on the mountain that day? I think so.