Marriage and divorce

JESUS came into the district of Judea and across the Jordan. Again crowds gathered around him and, as was his custom, he again taught them. The Pharisees approached 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 him 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 him 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.”

REFLECTION GOD MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE. Jesus cites Genesis in order to teach against divorce. Male and female refer to husband and wife. They become one flesh in marriage. Human beings, Jesus says, have no right to separate what God has joined together.

The Pharisees try to justify the present practice, using Exodus. They claim Moses allowed divorce. At least, the men were allowed to separate from their wives (who did not have the same right). Jesus replies that Moses’ concession was due to people’s hardness of hearts and insists on God’s original plan for marriage.

Jesus makes us appreciate the permanence of the marriage relationship. One leaves parents to unite with one’s partner, and the couple becomes an independent entity. As one flesh, they are to complete each other as male and female. They are complementary.

In Genesis, woman is presented as helper to man. (The culture then allowed male domination that Jesus’ message means to dismantle.) The better term is partner that promotes the concept of complementarity. Husband and wife help each other in running the family and the household.

How do you take your masculinity or femininity? Can you commit to the life-long relationship that marriage requires?