At the time of Jesus, in both Jewish and Roman society,
divorce was generally accepted. Jewish scribes believed that Moses had given
wide permission for divorce in Deuteronomy 24. In our Gospel today, some
Pharisees question Jesus about divorce, but instead of engaging in their debate
Jesus points back to the beginning of God’s creation.
Genesis tells us that God created a beautiful garden filled with fruit and good things to eat. God created the first human and placed him there to care for the garden.
Original Solitude
At each step of creation, God reflects on what he had made
and says, and it was good, or even very good. We are surprised then when God
suddenly says something was not good.
Even though the first man, Adam had all the animals and even God himself for companionship, God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone.” We might call this our original solitude.
Original Unity
The truth is that God created each one of us with a need for
community and for relationship with others. Adam was created with a God-given a
need for relationship. It was not good for Adam to be alone.
In response to this, God made Adam sleep and took one of his ribs from his side, and created the first woman. In certain sense, for Adam, God plus Eve, is better than God alone. We call the joining of Adam and Eve as man’s original unity.
Original Joy
God introduces Adam to Eve for the first time. One famous Hebrew scholar has said Adam’s words upon meeting her are the equivalent of “Whaahoo!” Upon seeing his bride, Adam basically says, “God this… is… awesome! This is exactly what I was looking for!” They expressed Adam’s sheer delight in the wonderful creature that God had created for companionship with him. The story also tells us that in their original state, “the man and his wife were naked and unashamed.” We might call this original joy.
The Fall
Unfortunately, the man and woman did not stay in the garden.
They disobeyed God and ate from the tree God told them not to eat. Suddenly
their eyes were opened, and they knew they were naked, and they were ashamed.
They hid from God and strife entered their relationship. Sin entered the world
and damaged God’s original plan for marriage.
Although sin has entered the world, Jesus has come to
restore God’s original intention for creation. St. Paul tell us,
So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things
have passed away; behold, new things have come (2 Co 5:17).
God’s desires to transform each one of us in
Christ Jesus. We must become a new creation. While the effects of the old
creation and fall linger in our relationships, Jesus offers us hope.
Jesus responds to the Pharisees in our Gospel by reminding
them of God’s original vision for marriage. Quoting Genesis, Jesus notes that
‘God made them male and female’ alluding to the whole story I have just
related. Jewish traditions about marriage recognized that the words of the
creation account, ‘God made them male and female’ set up the first man and
woman as a prototype of marriage. At a purely natural level, God created all
human marriages to be something that is good.
The problem is that at a purely human level we are often
still living in a fallen state of sin rather than in the new life of
the Spirit that God desires for us. When Jesus rebukes the hardness of the
hearts of the Pharisees, he is pointing out that they have not yet allowed
their hearts to be renewed by the Spirit.
God desires to restore each one of us individually and even
marriage itself to its original state. God desired much more from this
institution than simply a natural human good. He created man and woman in the
image and likeness of God.
During his earthly life, Jesus elevated the human good of
marriage into a sacrament. For baptized Christians, joined to Christ by the
Spirit, there are three people joined in Holy Matrimony. The groom, the
bride and Jesus.
Christian Marriage is a window into the mystery of God’s own
interior love. The exchange of love between the Father, the Son and the
Holy Spirit is reflected in the creation of man and women as a complimentary
pair who exchange their love and commitment to each other.
God’s love for us is always true and eternal. Like God, the
reflection of God’s love in our marriage covenant, is also permanent, faithful,
and open to new life.
Pointing to the original unity of the marriage, Jesus again
quotes from Genesis 2 saying , ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father
and mother [and be joined to his wife] and the two shall become one flesh’
(Genesis 2:24). Jesus is saying that becoming one flesh creates a
unity of the two, so that they truly become one. This unity is permanent and
unbreakable as long as the groom and bride live.
Jesus concludes, “So they are no longer two but one flesh.
Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate” (Mk
10:6–9). Jesus teaching on the permanence and indissolubility of marriage will
bring comfort to some and be the source of pain for others.
We must recognize that we live in a tension between the old
creation and the new creation. God desires to give us joy and happiness in all
our relationships. Modern psychological research teaches us that the foundation
of any marriage is commitment and trust. God’s plan for marriage as a serious
lifelong covenant fosters these same attributes.
Even when we fall short and fail, Jesus desires to heal us
and restore us to his joy. Jesus' heart is always for our happiness.
As St. John reminds us, "For God did not send his Son
into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through
him" (Jn 3:17).
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