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Gospel: Matthew 19: 3-12
Some Pharisees approached Jesus, and tested him, saying,
“Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause whatever?”
He said in reply, “Have you not read that from the beginning
the Creator made them male and female and said,
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, man must not separate.”
They said to him, “Then why did Moses command
that the man give the woman a bill of divorce and dismiss her?”
He said to them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts
Moses allowed you to divorce your wives,
but from the beginning it was not so.
I say to you, whoever divorces his wife
(unless the marriage is unlawful)
and marries another commits adultery.”
His disciples said to him,
“If that is the case of a man with his wife,
it is better not to marry.”
He answered, “Not all can accept this word,
but only those to whom that is granted.
Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so;
some, because they were made so by others;
some, because they have renounced marriage
for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven.
Whoever can accept this ought to accept it.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Today’s Gospel is tough. How do we understand it today?
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If your marriage is strong – if you’re living the ideal that our Lord sets before us – then give thanks to God… and to your spouse!
You’re an inspiration to many.
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If your marriage is on the rocks, know Jesus is with you. He wants your marriage to succeed just as much as you do.
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If you’ve endured the heartbreaking experience of divorce, then know that Jesus is still walking with you, he still loves you, and he still calls you to be his disciple.
We cannot avoid this unfortunate truth: sometimes relationships fail. It’s part of living in a fallen world.
But God never fails us.
He is forever faithful, the Good Shepherd, who stands ready to place us on his shoulders when we fall and carry us forward. He’s a God who’s always looking for the next door to open.
The last thing the Lord would ever do is pick at our faults or rejoice in our failings. It’s simply not who he is.
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As Christians, what the Lord asks of us is to extend the same mercy to others that he so often shows to us.
“For you shall be judged as you have judged,” Jesus says.
Instead of excluding those who’ve been deeply hurt already, perhaps today we can pray for the needs of many: couples who are firmly in love; couples who are struggling in their marriage; relationships that have ended; and those who hope to marry someday.
May the Lord guide us all along the path of healing and peace.
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Image credits: (1) KGW, How to Get Married During Covid-19 (2) Harvard Health (3) Brandon Cox