Gospel

Mark 10:1-12

Jesus came into the district of Judea and across the Jordan.

Again crowds gathered around him and, as was his custom,

he again taught them.

The Pharisees approached him 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.”

Reflection

When Jesus is talking about divorce, the world the disciples lived in, where it was very easy for a man especially to get a divorce from a woman by just simply writing a bill of divorce, hand her the paper and she was cast out. Jesus wants to make clear to the disciples that he sees marriage differently, and what he wants everyone to experience is a kind of oneness that comes through a sacrament, a ritual that he establishes where the person can feel a mysterious power within them that makes them sense that anything they do, they've done to their partner.

That there's an unbreakable bond, and to be convinced of that is the goal of marriage. It’s not always understood. It's not always accepted. And even Jesus himself gave some exceptions to divorce. And the beauty of his teaching is the simple truth that one is asked to go beyond human nature, participate in divinity within them, and continue to work through the difficulties of a marriage.

Closing Prayer

Father, help us to trust in grace. The mysterious power that you share with us to accomplish the way in which we are asked to live in this world. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

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