***
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.
***
***
Maybe you’ve heard this joke before:
What’s the difference between a good lawyer and a great lawyer?
A good lawyer knows the law. A great lawyer knows the judge!
***
Throughout the Gospels, the Pharisees try leveraging their knowledge of the Law against Jesus to trap him, turning the tide against him.
But herein lies the difference between the Pharisees and Jesus. While the Pharisees know the Law, Jesus knows the Judge – God, his Father in heaven.
Today the legal question is over divorce. “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”
Other days, the topic is different: “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar? A woman was married seven times, but each of her husbands died. In the resurrection, whose will she be? Why do your disciples not fast on the Sabbath? By whose authority do you do such things?”
***
If the Pharisees can squeeze a legal ruling out of Jesus, then perhaps some of his followers will turn against him. Avoiding their trap, the Lord doesn’t convict anyone; rather, he responds, “From the beginning, it was not so.”
Jesus was there in the beginning – before there was sin; before there were laws; and before such laws were broken. From the beginning, there was only one force at work: God’s infinite love.
God created marriage to model the type of self-offering which exists between the Father and the Son; the Spirit being the love they share.
No human being has ever modeled that love perfectly – be it in marriage or in friendship – “because of the hardness of your hearts.” In that sense, we’re all guilty, the Pharisees, too!
But instead of condemning the world, the Lord came to save us, creating a new, final law: “Love one another as I have loved you.”
That is what the Judge asks of us.
***
In what ways can I better love other people?
***
That may include forgiving a spouse – or former spouse – who’s hurt me; putting the needs of others before my own; letting go of my tendency to judge prematurely; or encountering Christ in the poor.
Each in our own way, try to live life the way it was, “from the beginning.”
***
***
Image credits: (1) SlidePlayer (2) Turning Stone Counseling (3) Daily Declaration