Mark 10:1-16

Then Jesus left the region and went into the district of Judea, across from the Jordan River, and again, massive crowds flocked to him, and Jesus, as was his custom, began to teach the people. At one point, some of the Pharisees came, seeking to entrap him with a question. “Tell us,” they asked, “is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” They replied, “Moses permitted us to write a certificate of separation that would be valid to complete a divorce.” Jesus said, “Yes, Moses wrote this exception for you because you are hardhearted. But from the beginning God created male and female. For this reason a man will leave his parents and be wedded to his wife. And the husband and wife will be joined as one flesh, and after that they no longer exist as two, but one flesh. So there you have it. What God has joined together, no one has the right to split apart.” Once indoors, his disciples asked him to explain it to them again. So he said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. And if the wife divorces her husband and marries another, she also commits adultery.” The parents kept bringing their little children to Jesus so that he would lay his hands on them and bless them. But the disciples kept rebuking and scolding the people for doing it. When Jesus saw what was happening, he became indignant with his disciples and said to them, “Let all the little children come to me and never hinder them! Don’t you know that God’s kingdom exists for such as these? Listen to the truth I speak: Whoever does not open their arms to receive God’s kingdom like a teachable child will never enter it.” Then he embraced each child, and laying his hands on them, he lovingly blessed each one.