God's plan for marriage is truly beautiful. As today's readings show, it all began when God gave Eve, the first woman, as a wife to Adam, the first man. Adam is delighted to see her. She is the companion, the equal, that he could not find in the rest of creation. And the text concludesFor this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh".
But things soon went awry. Adam and Eve fell into sin and began to blame each other: Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the serpent. All sorts of abuses ensued, particularly the mistreatment and oppression of women, such as polygamy and divorce. To try to improve things, Moses later allowed divorce, requiring that the divorced woman be given at least a certificate of divorce, so that she would have some legal status to protect her.
And this brings us to today's Gospel, where the Pharisees ask Jesus about this question. "Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife?", and cite Moses' permission for divorce. But Jesus gives a surprising answer. "Because of the hardness of your hearts Moses wrote this commandment".
"Because of the hardness of your heart"and the permission to divorce came from Moses, not from God. Jesus then reminds them of God's original plan. In other words, permission to divorce was never God's plan: it was only a concession made by man. "because of the hardness of your heart". Even the disciples are surprised, but Jesus insists: divorcing your spouse and trying to remarry is not a true marriage, it is adultery because, if your first marriage was valid, you are still married. And he concludes: "For what God has joined together, let no man put asunder".
To accept divorce is to doubt God and His power. It is almost blasphemy. When God unites two people, he unites them by his power with an unbreakable bond and we should not doubt it.
And with divorce comes that other great evil, contraception. So it is interesting that, having made it clear that divorce is evil, Jesus then shows his love for children. "Let the children come to me: do not hinder them, for the kingdom belongs to such as these. of God". Then we read: "taking them in his arms, he blessed them by laying his hands on them". The Bible only shows God encouraging and blessing openness to life. Nowhere does God discourage us from having children.
Homily on the readings of Sunday 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
Priest Luis Herrera Campo offers his nanomiliaA short one-minute reflection for these Sunday readings.
