October 6, 2024
Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)
Among the Church’s most controversial stances in our postmodern society is that on marriage and divorce. In fact, many people, even Catholics themselves, consider the Catholic Church to be somewhat of a relic because of its perceived teachings on this subject. There are, however, certain things we might gather from the readings for today which can help clarify the Church’s position on the sacrament and what it means for those who are married in the Church and then faced with divorce.
If we begin by reading through the Gospel (Mk 10:2-16), we find a familiar scenario. Jesus is traveling through Judea on his way to Jerusalem and his main opponents, the Pharisees are looking for a way to trap him. So, they come to him about the topic of marriage and divorce to see if he will contradict the standard teaching of his time. The Pharisees approach him and ask him, “Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?” (Mk. 2:2).
As is often the case, Jesus goes to the Hebrew Scriptures, what we know as the Old Testament, in formulating his response. This is where we find the laws of God originally given to the Jewish people. Accordingly, Jesus asks the Pharisees what was it that Moses allowed a man to do if he wanted a separation. They respond by saying that Moses permitted a man to write a bill of divorce and dismiss his wife.
This response of the Pharisees is a reference to a law from the book of Deuteronomy (Deut. 24:1-4) which states that a man could divorce his wife if he became displeased with her after finding “something objectionable” about her. Considering that women were involved in arranged marriages and looked on as property in those days, this law also contained details designed to protect the woman if her husband divorced her so she could remarry and retain legal status.
Jesus scolds the Pharisees for quoting this teaching of Moses because it has nothing to do with the real meaning of marriage in his eyes. Rather it is just a matter of legalities about how a man might benefit most from the dispersal of his “property” if he seeks to marry a different woman. So, he says to them “Because of the hardness of your hearts Moses wrote you this commandment.” (Mt. 10:5).
Jesus then goes on to make his point using a reference to the story we find in the First Reading for today (Gen. 2:18-24). It is the second of two stories from the book of Genesis which describes the creation of man and woman by God.
In this passage, God has already created the man and is looking for a suitable partner for him. God forms various animals and birds and brings them to the man to see what he will name them. The man gives names to all of the animals, but none of them turn out to be a suitable partner for him. So, the Lord casts a deep sleep on the man and removes one of his ribs in order to create the woman.
Finally, the man recognizes that a suitable partner has been created for him. She has been made from his own flesh and not from the ground. Thus, they have a similarity and attraction unlike any of the other animals. So, the man proclaims, “This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; This one shall be called ‘woman,’ for out of man this one has been taken. (Gen. 2:23).
These words are where we see marriage consecrated by God to be a holy institution. And these are the verses that Jesus references as he describes the real meaning of marriage to the Pharisees. He tells them, “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.” (Mk. 10:6-9)
Later in the passage, when Jesus is alone with his disciples, they continue to question him about this teaching. And he says some serious things to them which validate the sacredness and permanence of marriage and the sinfulness of divorce. He says, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.” (Mk. 10:11-12).
Because of these words of Jesus, divorce is often frowned upon today by Catholics. Yet, it is important to remember that these and other details about God’s creation were made when the world was perfect, before the fall of man and woman which we find occurring in the very next chapter of Genesis (Gen. 3:3-20).
As a result of their sin, we no longer live in a perfect world, the world as created by God. Rather, we live in a fallen world where men abuse their wives, women cheat on their husbands, or one deserts the other, oftentimes along with the children. The Church makes allowances for separation and divorce with its system of annulments and canon law in all of these instances and others like them where marriage vows are ignored or broken. That is to say, in situations where valid matrimonial vows were never really established in the first place.
However, despite the human failings which affect the relationships between men and women and result in broken marriages, the Catholic Church still considers the bond of marriage established by God to be a sacrament of holiness and an unbreakable calling to a vocation where men and women dedicate their lives to one another. It is something which “God has joined together” and men and women must not separate. But be assured, like all of our weaknesses, it is the grace and compassion of Jesus that brings redemption in the midst of our humanness even when marriage turns into divorce and couples go their separate ways.
