Sunday 4th 2009(27th Sunday in Ordinary Time): Gn 2:18-24, Heb 2:9-11, Mk 10:2-16
People are always looking for the loophole in the contract or agreement in which they can escape their commitments without incurring a penalty. Many lawyers have made their fortune on this: finding the 'out clause'. Today's Scriptures focus on marriage; a pledge of lifetime commitment between a man and a woman which establishes the foundation of society: the family.
In the 1st reading from the Book of Genesis we have the account of God desiring and so creating a 'suitable partner' for the man by making her from a rib removed from the man's body. This makes the man 'incomplete' without the woman and the woman 'incomplete' without the man, something not lost to the biblical writer as he sums it: "That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body." The conjugal union of man and woman is established by God and becomes sacred.
But as I mentioned earlier, people are always looking for the loophole and we have an example of this in the Gospel reading; some Pharisees wanting to test Jesus ask him "Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?" Jesus resonded with a question of his own and the ensuing dialogue leads to his definitive anwer:
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.
By quoting Genesis Jesus reestablishes God's command over the law of Moses. There can be no loophole, no 'out clause'. Why? Because marriage is a sacrament, a sign of God's presence among us. The covenant relationship between the man and the woman is a sign of the covenant relationship between God and us. And God love is forever and it is faithful so that God forgives us when we are not true to our part of the covenant. We have given God ample reasons, time and time again, to dissolve this relationship but he doesn't; never have and never will. If his covenant with us is indissoluble then marriage as a sign of that covenant has to be indissoluble. "Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate." Who said Christianity was ever going to be easy? In divorce the one does not go back to two; it becomes half and incomplete.
But it would be wrong to think this applies only to marriage. Every relationship forms a bond that has some essence of covenant in it: Parent and child, siblings, relatives, pastors and flock, patient and caregiver, employer and employee and so on. We all expect some sort of fidelity in that relationship with the other. That's what we call 'trust' and we all know that trust once broken is hard to reestablish. But we are conditioned to look for the loophole and thus create so much more problems in our relationships as a result. Just look at the divorce rate and the number of breach of contract lawsuits being filed daily.
With all that is happening in our society today; in families and even within the Church perhaps we need to step back and ask "What is the value of a vow?" Then look at God's answer as found in our second reading from the letter to the Hebrews:
Brothers and sisters:
He "for a little while" was made "lower than the angels, "that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
For it was fitting that he, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the leader to their salvation perfect through suffering. He who consecrates and those who are being consecrated
all have one origin. Therefore, he is not ashamed to call them “brothers.”
In short God's answer to the question "What is the value of a vow?" is simply "Everything I have".
Peace
In the 1st reading from the Book of Genesis we have the account of God desiring and so creating a 'suitable partner' for the man by making her from a rib removed from the man's body. This makes the man 'incomplete' without the woman and the woman 'incomplete' without the man, something not lost to the biblical writer as he sums it: "That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body." The conjugal union of man and woman is established by God and becomes sacred.
But as I mentioned earlier, people are always looking for the loophole and we have an example of this in the Gospel reading; some Pharisees wanting to test Jesus ask him "Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?" Jesus resonded with a question of his own and the ensuing dialogue leads to his definitive anwer:
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.
By quoting Genesis Jesus reestablishes God's command over the law of Moses. There can be no loophole, no 'out clause'. Why? Because marriage is a sacrament, a sign of God's presence among us. The covenant relationship between the man and the woman is a sign of the covenant relationship between God and us. And God love is forever and it is faithful so that God forgives us when we are not true to our part of the covenant. We have given God ample reasons, time and time again, to dissolve this relationship but he doesn't; never have and never will. If his covenant with us is indissoluble then marriage as a sign of that covenant has to be indissoluble. "Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate." Who said Christianity was ever going to be easy? In divorce the one does not go back to two; it becomes half and incomplete.
But it would be wrong to think this applies only to marriage. Every relationship forms a bond that has some essence of covenant in it: Parent and child, siblings, relatives, pastors and flock, patient and caregiver, employer and employee and so on. We all expect some sort of fidelity in that relationship with the other. That's what we call 'trust' and we all know that trust once broken is hard to reestablish. But we are conditioned to look for the loophole and thus create so much more problems in our relationships as a result. Just look at the divorce rate and the number of breach of contract lawsuits being filed daily.
With all that is happening in our society today; in families and even within the Church perhaps we need to step back and ask "What is the value of a vow?" Then look at God's answer as found in our second reading from the letter to the Hebrews:
Brothers and sisters:
He "for a little while" was made "lower than the angels, "that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
For it was fitting that he, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the leader to their salvation perfect through suffering. He who consecrates and those who are being consecrated
all have one origin. Therefore, he is not ashamed to call them “brothers.”
In short God's answer to the question "What is the value of a vow?" is simply "Everything I have".
Peace