Ezekiel 16: 1-15, 60, 63; Resp: Isaiah 12; Matthew 19: 3-12
To properly examine the Gospel of today, we need some hours or a week. However I will try to just summarise the message of today though I can assure you I might preach longer than usual.
Jesus taught us a whole lot about the sanctity of marriage.
Some Pharisees came to test Him on the question of the ideal of marriage and the whole controversy around divorce.
You would agree with me that even today, this is a very sensitive topic that many people do not want it to be talked about.
Let me give a brief explanation of the context of the question that the Pharisees asked Jesus.
During the time of Jesus, there were two main schools of thought on divorce.
I. The school of Rabbi Shammai:
According to them, separation may be granted in difficult marriages but divorce is not an option except on ground of sexual immorality.
II.The school of Hillel agreed that people should be granted access to easy divorce on any ground. Of course, as expected, this was the most popular opinion at that time.
So, those who came to ask Jesus this question really tried to put him in a difficult situation, let us not forget that at that time, Herod was with Herodias, his brother’s wife. So whatever Jesus said, would get to these powerful people.
How did Jesus answer?
He went beyond the rabbinic schools, he went beyond public opinion. Jesus took us back to the beginning; he took us to the scriptures.
Dear friends, if we want to understand the ideal of marriage, its dignity and sanctity, it is not in the family court, it is not in public opinion, it is not what government is saying or what some “quack” marriage counselors are saying or what is convenient for us, we must go to what the Lord who instituted marriage intends and what is written in the Scriptures.
For the sake of time, I will only point out two things;
I. Marriage is a sacred/divine institution:
God instituted marriage and He decides the law. Every unfaithfulness/infidelity in marriage is a direct violation of God’s law (Hebrews 13:4).
The commonest and the worst violation of the sanctity of marriage is co-habitation.
This is when a boy/man and girl/woman claim to fall in love and start living together and doing things permissible only to those who are properly married.
An “unsanctified” union between a man and a woman is not marriage no matter how long they have been together or the number of children they have “generated.”
This is what many Christian parents have failed to teach their children.
How many of our children are living with a partner they are not married to and we have no problem with it?
Marriage is a sacred institution that we must all respect and honour.
II. Divorce is not a ready option when things are difficult in married life.
God did not intend any marriage to end in divorce (read Malachi 2:16). The two properties of marriage are unity and indissolubility. Every marriage is a reflection of the relationship between God and His people.
In the first reading, we see how God allegorically described His love and care for Israel and how she became unfaithful but then, God said He would pardon and not give up on them.
Many are attracted to divorce because of the material benefits and the way the society and some false ministers encourage it, Jesus is telling us today that what God has united, no human person must divide.
Even though the Church sympathise with those in difficult marriages and doesn’t condemn anyone, however, it is only a false and ungodly sympathy that restrains us from teaching what God wants His people to know.
Even the disciples shudder at this teaching. Yes, marriage is not as simple as many of us think and the society has told us.
Marriage requires so much prayers, spiritual preparations, discernments, obedience to God, patience, perseverance, maturity, selflessness, sacrifice and mutual love.
The kind of selfless love and sacrifice necessary for a successful marriage is what we see in the life of Maxmillian Kolbe.
Sermon preached by Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Gukena Okami on August 14, 2020