27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

October 4, 2009

Gen 2:18-24
Heb 2:9-11
Mk 10:2-16

JESUS’ TEACHING ON DIVORCE

The second story of creation in the book of Genesis is what we hear in today’s first reading.  It reminds us of God’s breath of life into man’s nostrils in order for him to share in the life of God Himself.  He is the embodiment of the whole of humanity, the human race.  He is indeed the masterpiece of God’s creation.  But, in order for man to be relieved from aloneness, God has decided to make a suitable partner for him.  He forms out of the ground various wild animals and birds of the air and brings them to the man to see what he would call them.  Name is given to each one of them but nothing proves to be the suitable partner for him.  So God makes him fall into a deep sleep and then takes out one of his ribs from him.  A new creature, which is taken from him, is enclosed in flesh to become a woman.  When God brings the woman to the man, there is success as the man exclaims, “ At last, this one is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh…..” (Gen. 2:23) Indeed, the woman is created and given by God as a suitable partner for man. Though she is taken out of a man’s ribs, woman is not created to be man’s subordinate, servant or pet.  The author adds: “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body.” (Gen. 2:24) In marriage, the two separate human beings become one body.  Thus, only marriage captures the original completion of the total human in one body.

In today’s gospel, our Lord Jesus Christ emphasizes on this original vision of unity and completion.  He is recalling this original plan of God for marriage as revealed in the book of Genesis that man and woman be united in an indissoluble bond.  This has to be the norm for every marriage in order that it will become a serious life-long commitment. And I do believe that this is precisely the reason why Jesus Christ makes a powerful statement which urges all of us to fulfill: “Therefore what God has joined together, let no man put asunder.” 

On the other hand, when Jesus was asked by the Pharisees whether divorce was possible or not, he was very much aware of what the book of Deuteronomy said about the matter. The law of Moses allowed divorce to the male partner provided that he safeguarded the woman’s interest by giving her a writ of dismissal, which freed her to marry again (Dt. 24:1-4)  But what the law did not settle was in what circumstances divorce was legal. The gospel of Matthew seems to follow what is written in Deuteronomy, like for instance, in cases of adultery, the husband or his wife can divorce his/her husband or wife if one of them has sexual intercourse with another man or woman. St. Paul also allows divorce.  In fact, divorce was common also in the time of Jesus, and marriage offered little security for a woman who could be abandoned at her husband’s whim.  Our Lord Jesus Christ seeks to change all these.  So, in his answer to the Pharisees’ tricky inquiry, Jesus does not question the validity of that law but rather points out that Moses is forced to grant it because of the hardness of the peoples’ heart.  Jesus’ argument ensures the protection of a woman from being treated as a disposable possession of her husband.

By quoting the scripture, our Lord Jesus Christ  says that God did not intend this to happen since at the beginning.  In the book of Genesis, it is said that “from the beginning God made them male and female” ( 1:27) and the “two shall become one flesh/body” (2:24).  These two quoted periscopes in the Old Testament give us the two essential qualities of marriage which Jesus would like all married couples to observe:  the UNITY and MUTUAL INTERDEPENDENCE (or complimentarity). Neither man alone or woman alone embodies the fullness of God’s creative design, but man and woman in union mirror the mystery of the love of the Triune God. St. Mark beautifully concludes in today’s gospel by showing Jesus welcoming little children.   As a concrete manifestation of his love and concern for each family, Jesus in today’s gospel is pointing out the importance of emulating the innate good qualities of the little children in order to sustain this holy bond.  We may ask why St. Mark is putting this particular gospel scene right after Jesus’ emphasis on the indissolubility of marriage that describes the bond of unity between man and a woman.  It is because, I think, the children oftentimes are the ones suffering or being affected when a marriage fails.  And Jesus is offering the children as examples of innocence, humility, and purity of heart which are all worth emulating.  To add these qualities, St. Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians chapter 13: 1-13, emphasizes the kind of love that the couple should have.  For all the couples, I wish that the Lord will take you by the hand and lead you along the path of “God’s love and Christ’s endurance”   ( 2 Thes. 3:5).



Fr. Romy B. Benitez, SVD
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Mission
Mayoyao, Ifugao