The Gospel Mark 10:2-16
The Pharisees approached Jesus and asked,
“Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?”
They were testing him.
He said to them in reply, “What did Moses command you?”
They replied,
“Moses permitted a husband to write a bill of divorce
and dismiss her.”
But Jesus told them,
“Because of the hardness of your hearts
he wrote you this commandment.
But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female.
For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother
and be joined to his wife,
and the two shall become one flesh.
So they are no longer two but one flesh.
Therefore what God has joined together,
no human being must separate.”
In the house the disciples again questioned Jesus about this.
He said to them,
“Whoever divorces his wife and marries another
commits adultery against her;
and if she divorces her husband and marries another,
she commits adultery.”
And people were bringing children to him that he might touch them,
but the disciples rebuked them.
When Jesus saw this he became indignant and said to them,
“Let the children come to me;
do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to
such as these.
Amen, I say to you,
whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child
will not enter it.”
Then he embraced them and blessed them,
placing his hands on them.
After the Gospel:
Since the Gospel today is about MARRIAGE – “what God has joined together –” it’s a chance to congratulate all you young married couples.
You’ve thumbed your noses at a world that has normalized just living together, bragging that a piece of paper is not needed to be in love.
Congratulations to you married couples who have celebrated your 10th anniversary.
You’ve beat the odds that the average divorce happens at about 7 years.
Congratulations to you couples with children. You’ve said “no” to a culture that views fertility as a problem to be overcome rather than a blessing to be celebrated.
And “Thank You” for the children… the ones Jesus embraced and blessed …
The Church of tomorrow is in their hands!
Marriage customs have certainly changed over time.
Back when the Pharisees asked their question, it was a man’s world,
a day when a woman was basically the property of her father,
until she became the property of her husband,
when a woman lost everything upon the death of her spouse, widows had nothing, were defenseless.
And children … they were minors, they owned nothing, had no rights, especially orphaned children.
In the ancient world, Jewish world included, marriage was primarily from a man’s point of view.
So when the Pharisees asked about a man-made law, “Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?” it was from a man’s point of view.
It was a trick question, and Jesus simply side-stepped their trap …
He turned the conversation away from their legalities for divorce back to God and His original plan.
They quoted from the Bible, he quoted from the Bible – its first pages:
“From the beginning of creation, God made them male and female.
For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”
Who among them would dare change God’s plan, God’s intention, which was:
That first of all, marriage be a monogamous relationship; one man and one woman forming a marriage.
Second, that it be their primary commitment: they leave their parents and are joined to each other, so that their first loyalty from now on will be to the new family unit they’re creating together.
Third, that it be sacramental; the physical joining of their bodies in sexual union is a symbol of the deeper joining of their lives as ‘one flesh’.
Fourth, that it be permanent: ‘What God has joined together, no one must separate’ .
That’s God’s foundation, that’s why Catholics see marriage as a gift from God, a union of equals, not just to make the couple happy but to make them holy.
Not just a legal contract, conditional, revocable if you can afford a good lawyer; but as a deep, mystical, sacramental union.
Which is why a breakup is so painful. Since the two have become one flesh, a breakup produces, not two people, but two halves which have been painfully ripped apart.
The Church follows Christ and remains faithful to God’s original plan, defending traditional marriage against any re-definition by the world.
Parishes try to promote and foster healthy marriages by requiring lengthy marriage preparation,
priests emphasize the sacrifice and commitment that marriage requires.
Even so, there are times when it doesn’t work, and the Church has to deal with that.
Times when a Church tribunal must declare that a marriage was defective at the beginning, it didn’t have at least one of the essential elements required for a binding union …
So an annulment is granted, declaring the conditions for a valid marriage were not present…
Even there, Pope Francis wants to ease the hurt and brokenness …
he has asked bishops to speed up the annulment process, keep it affordable…
and asks them always to extend compassion, and facilitate healing.
Everything Jesus did was a safety net for others.
In all his actions, which they constantly marveled at, he tried to fix what was broken, to help the weak, the misfits of life,
by healing widows, whom society made sure ended up with nothing,
by raising back to life the dead son of the widow of Naim, so she’d have something,
by saving the life of the woman caught in adultery, as they stood there holding deadly stones,
by blessing children the disciples wanted to turn away as unimportant.
And in his teaching, Jesus spoke the Truth. He was not afraid of their criticism or attacks.
He had strong words against those who would use divorce as a legal loophole.
We can Thank God the Church continues the work of Jesus.