Genesis 2:18-24; Psalm 128; Hebrews 2:9-11; Mark 10:2-16
Grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus be with you.
Our readings today focus on marriage. Many of you here have been married since before I was born. Some have tried many marriages and have gained different experiences. On my own part, I have not even been married once (and I am not hoping to be). So, am I qualified to talk about marriage?
Many times when we preach on marriage, people undermine our message. They challenge our audacity in preaching on an institution that we are not part of. Well, if being married is the condition for preaching on marriage, then I am not qualified to give anyone any advice on marriage.
However, people forget that priests are also from families, that we support families. We listen to the struggles of couples and we have the wisdom of the Word of God and the teachings of the Church. We are also attentive to the Spirit, who is the greatest teacher and director.
In any case, I doubt that many of you who advise us on how to be a good priest, have been a priest before, have you?
Okay, let’s go to the readings.
The First Reading is very loaded. It is enough for us to feed on. It takes us back to the origin of marriage and the divine intention for marriage.
We learn from the Genesis’ account that marriage is an initiative of God and so it is a divine institution. A man and a woman cannot just fall in love and cohabit and start a family; that is not how God intended it. Marriage is not a private contract, it is a sacred institution and so every man and woman intending to enter into this union must seek God’s approval and blessing.
Again, in this Genesis’ account, we are told that God looked for a suitable helper for man. He searched among the animals and no suitable helper was found. He then created a woman as the perfect helper, compatible with man. Note that God didn’t create another man; He created a woman – a womb-man. Society may say what it likes but what God says is what is true and final.
Note, the first intention of God for marriage is companionship – what we can call friendship. This means that a husband and a wife are supposed to be best friends, soul mates. If this is not the case, then the marriage is wobbly with reference to the essence of its establishment.
In the Gospel of today, Jesus defended the sanctity, dignity and indissolubility of marriage.
The Pharisees brought a question to Jesus on marriage and divorce. In those days, there were two very strong schools of thought on marriage. The school of Rabbi Hillel and the school of Rabbi Shammai. Rabbi Hillel agreed that a man could divorce a woman on any grounds if he was no longer happy with the marriage. This was the lax, liberal and popular opinion. The school of Shammai was conservative. Divorce was not permitted except on the basis of sexual impropriety.
I believe that they put this question before Jesus not just to make him fall out with the people but also to fall out with Herod-Herodias so that He could then follow the fate of John the Baptist.
Jesus didn’t answer by appealing to any school of thought. He appealed to the Scripture. There He explained the divine origin and intention for marriage as we have in the First Reading.
Jesus didn’t in any way condemn those who were divorced or remarried, however, He taught the truth about marriage without mincing His words. Marriage is a sacred institution, established by God to be permanent. It is established to be a union between a man and a woman for companionship and for the procreation and the godly formation of offspring.
I will end this reflection by giving these five counsels to those in marriage.
A. We need endurance in this vocation. There will always be the temptation to quit when it gets tough. Many who are celebrating their 50th anniversary today wanted to quit after 5 years.
B. Every marriage has its challenges. Appreciate yours and be careful in talking to everyone about what is wrong in your marriage and family.
C. Let God always be at the center of your marriage. Praying together gives special grace to a family.
D. Faithfulness: Unfaithfulness is a willful and foolish attempt to destroy a sacred institution (Hebrews 13:8). Husband and wife, be faithful to each other. Don’t just celebrate anniversaries of staying together, let them be anniversaries of faithfulness.
E. If you are blessed with children, learn from the Gospel of today and bring them to Jesus. The greatest legacy we can give our children is not wealth or education but faith. Faith is a comprehensive package that includes everything they will need in life and eternity.
May God bless all those who are single, all those who have lost their spouse, all those who are divorced and remarried, all those in difficult marriages. May we all experience and grow in the love of Jesus who never condemns anyone but calls everyone to know the truth and accept His love.
Sermon preached by Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Baraka-Gukena Okami on October 3, 2021