“[Jesus said], Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to one wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So, they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together let no man separate.”
+In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Marriage and family life are in a state of crisis in this country and throughout the developed world. Today, in the United States, more than 50% of all marriages end in divorce. 40% of all children are born outside of marriage. 60% of men ages 18 to 30 are unmarried. And the birthrate in the United States in 2021 was 1.66, with 2.00 being the replacement rate. We now live in a society where only a minority of households are married couples with children. Furthermore, there is an increasing unwillingness on the part of young people to get married or to even date. Many men are arguing that marriage, as it exists in the developed world today, is no longer a good investment for men, as no-fault divorce laws make it easy for couples to get divorced, with men bearing most of the financial costs while losing custody of their children. The bottom line is that marriage today is not seen as a holy sacrament established by God for the development of the family and the protection of children, it is seen as a vehicle for personal fulfillment only. Sadly, ungodly and selfish views about marriage are not a modern problem. As today’s Gospel lesson from St. Mark illustrates, ungodly views about marriage and relationships were common back in Jesus’ day. Today’s Gospel reading begins with yet another confrontation between Jesus and the Pharisees, this time over the issue of divorce. And, as usual, the Pharisees set up the confrontation in the hopes of getting Jesus to say something heretical, so that they would have a basis for making the charge against Him. It begins with a seemingly innocuous question, “It is lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” In response, Jesus refers them back to the Law of Moses, asking, “What did Moses command you?” They reply that Moses allowed a man to give his wife a certificate of divorce. Jesus then tells the Pharisees that Moses’ commandment regarding divorce was not a strict provision making divorce a positive good and a right, but rather a concession to sinners who had put themselves in a bad situation. In those days, men had most of the rights in society. Only men had the right to divorce their wives. In Jesus’ time, there was a debate between the Shammai school, which argued that a man could only divorce his wife on the grounds of sexual immorality, while the Hillel school argued that a man could divorce his wife on any grounds. Rather than get caught up in this debate, Jesus tells them that God’s plan for marriage is much deeper and permanent than what they were asserting. God’s plan for marriage is rooted in creation, when God created humanity male and female in the Garden. Jesus tells them, “But from the beginning, of creation, God made them male and female. Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So, they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” Jesus is telling his hearers is that marriage is a holy covenant established by God in creation. God created us male and female to complement and care for one another, and to provide companionship. God established marriage as the fundamental building block of society, the vehicle by which men and women could love each other and raise children together. While marriage can be and ought to be personally fulfilling, it is better understood as a school for discipleship, the place where we as individuals learn to love and care for others and serve God and give glory to Him. Thus, Jesus declares that, in God’s eyes, there is no theology of divorce. Marriage is a permanent union between one man and one woman for life. That’s why Jesus says that those who divorce and remarry are guilty of the sin of adultery. It is a radical claim, even offensive to us in this era of divorce and remarriage. But it reflects Biblical teaching which declares that marriage is a solemn union made by God for a man and woman for life. The fact that that Moses established regulations concerning divorce in Deuteronomy 24:1-4 does not alter this basic understanding. Again, Moses established the regulations in recognition of human sinfulness. Sadly, we have lost this understanding of marriage as a holy, lifelong union between a man and a woman. We have lost the idea of marriage as a covenant, thinking of it today as a vehicle for personal fulfillment. As a result, we have serial marriage and divorce. Children bear the brunt of this chaos, and it is reflected in lower academic achievement in school, increased depression and anxiety, and in sometimes violent behavior. And adults pay the price too, with significant increases in loneliness and addiction. So what must we do? Let us recommit ourselves to the Biblical understanding of marriage as a lifelong covenant. Let us repent of our selfishness and our superficiality. We must make our marriages our number one priority and dedicate ourselves to making them strong. Divorce must be a last resort, rather than a first resort. And we must always keep God at the center of our marriages. Married couples need to make it a priority to worship together, pray together, and serve God together. Since we all live in the wake of the sexual revolution, none of us can claim any moral standing in the eyes of God. Rather, we must repent of our past sexual sins and turn to God. As it says in Ecclesiastes 4:12, “a threefold cord is not easily broken.” +In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
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