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Gospel: Mark 10: 2-16
The Pharisees approached Jesus 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 a husband 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 Jesus 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.”
And people were bringing children to him that he might touch them,
but the disciples rebuked them.
When Jesus saw this he became indignant and said to them,
“Let the children come to me;
do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to
such as these.
Amen, I say to you,
whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child
will not enter it.”
Then he embraced them and blessed them,
placing his hands on them.
The Gospel of the Lord.
***
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When I first read this Gospel passage, my mind drifted to an old Rodney Dangerfield comedy skit, when he turned to the audience and said:
“My wife tells me she’s leaving me.”
To which I asked her, “What, is there somebody else?”
She said, “There’s gotta be!”
***
When confronted with hard teachings from Jesus, it’s always helpful to start with a little humor.
***
The Pharisees had a real knack for asking Jesus difficult questions, which were always lodged in the controversial topics of their day.
For example, “If a woman marries seven different brothers, whose wife will she be in the resurrection?”
“Is it lawful to pay our taxes to Caesar?”
“Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”
Or today, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”
This is a loaded question, not only because it deals with marriage and divorce, but also because it does not address women’s rights; the Pharisees did not regard men and women as equals.
Ultimately, the Pharisees are pitting Jesus against two different sides: God’s perfect dream for humanity versus the reality we all live in: a fallen, post-Garden of Eden world. Aside from the Virgin Mary, born without sin, no one is perfect.
Some may fall short on the ideal of marriage, while others may lie, steal, cheat, judge, harbor anger, jealousy, lust, or fail to put God first in their lives.
***
I remember being ten years old, sitting on my living room couch after school, trying to process the surprising, heartbreaking reality that my own parents were getting divorced.
Suddenly, everything was split: homes, weekends, even sides to a story.
Although there were reasons I did not yet understand, I learned two hard lessons: there’s always more to a story than what meets the eye, and nobody’s perfect. Not even the people I once idealized most – my parents.
As Saint Paul says, “All have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God.”
***
So, instead of allowing himself to slip deeper into the rabbit hole dug by the Pharisees, Jesus shuts the conversation down by pointing out the Pharisees’ hardness of heart, reminding them of the beauty that once was before the fall of Adam and Eve.
In the opening chapters of the Book of Genesis, God creates the sun, the moon, the stars, and every creature of the land, sea, and sky. He looks upon his creation and sees that it is “good.”
However, after God gives all of it to Adam, God seems to change his mind, seeing that it is, “not good.” Something is missing.
“It is not good for man to be alone,” God says in our first reading. Although Adam enjoyed friendship with God and was given dominion over all of creation, Adam lacked an equal. So, God put him to sleep, and from Adam’s rib, created Eve.
The Hebrew verb used to describe Eve’s creation is banah, which literally means to, “build.” The same verb is later used to describe the construction of the Temple in Jerusalem, which becomes God’s dwelling place in the Old Testament.
But God’s first dwelling place here on earth – his first temples – were the hearts of Adam and Eve.
***
We know Adam’s joy over Eve’s creation is short lived. After they both disobey God’s commandment by eating from the tree of knowledge, they are cast out of Eden, which not only separated them from each other, but also from God.
I’d imagine as they were making their exit, both of them were wondering, “Sheesh, is there somebody else? … There’s gotta be!”
***
This is why sin is so serious; by its very nature, it seeks to separate – man from woman, brother from brother, nation from nation, humanity from our Creator.
Thus, today’s Gospel passage is about much more than marriage; it’s about our universal divorce from our Creator – and our need to mend that rupture.
Where is there sin – separation – in my own life? What prevents me from enjoying a deeper relationship with my neighbor and, ultimately, with God?
***
“From the beginning,” Jesus says, “it was not so.”
Our first parents once lived in harmony.
May we strive for that peace and purity, allowing our hearts – and indeed our world – to become what it was intended to be – a welcome dwelling place for God.
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Image credits: (1) Centhq.com (2) Creation of Adam, Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo (3) A Table Prepared
