Advocate

Fine art print on archival matte paper

This piece captures a moment of divine support. Jesus Christ reaching out His hand to help a woman ascend a long staircase that symbolizes the uphill journey women have walked through history.

While traveling through Perea, Jesus was confronted by Pharisees trying to trap Him with a question about divorce. They asked if a man could divorce his wife for any reason. The school of Shammai believed that a divorce could only be issued for adultery, or offenses of chasity. But the school of Hillel believed a man could divorce a wife for any reason he chose, even if the wife were to cook her husband’s food poorly, or simply started to favor a different woman. Jesus responded by saying that fornication is the only valid reason for divorce because it breaks the oneness that marriage was meant to create. And said that if a man divorces his wife for any other reason and marries someone else, he himself commits adultery, because in God’s eyes, the original marriage still stands.

During Jesus’ time, the cultural view of marriage and divorce left women incredibly vulnerable. Men held nearly all the power — they could dismiss their wives for almost any reason, while women had little to no ability to initiate divorce themselves. This imbalance often meant women were used and discarded, left without protection or stability.

 By making marriage indissoluble, He not only upheld the sanctity of marriage but also defended the dignity and worth of women, who had been mistreated under the lax divorce practices of the time. This statement changed forever the concept of woman “as a mere toy or slave of man” (Jesus the Christ, James E Talmage) and rather an equal companion and partner to man as God intended.

 Let this piece serve as a reminder of one of the many times Jesus advocated for women, and let it guide our actions, and our expectations.