The pastor finishes reading the Gospel text and the people squirm more than usual. What will he say? What can he say?

The passage he has just read proclaims a chain of hard sayings, some of them impossibly harsh, condemning sin and strengthening the commandments. Anger, insulting speech, adultery, lust and swearing oaths are all roundly condemned. But it is the stark prohibition against divorce that has the people wondering what he will say.

In the text, Jesus clearly says, "No divorce." The pastor must be faithful to the text. At the same time, he wants and needs to be known as a sensitive, compassionate, caring person. He knows there is hardly a family or an individual in his congregation that has not been touched by divorce or its long, long shadow.

For many, the wound is still gapin…